The benefit to not having an algorithm is that landlords have to compete against each other and guess what the market considers a reasonable price for their offerings.
If you had an algorithm that factored in square footage, bedrooms, bathrooms, distance to schools, distance to transit, etc. and everybody followed it strictly, you would have a cartel of landlords and no competition among each other. At that point, what stops them from collectively agreeing to raise the price by 5% each year? It’s not like housing supply will ever exceed demand, and consumers can’t exactly boycott shelter.
The benefit to not having an algorithm is that landlords have to compete against each other and guess what the market considers a reasonable price for their offerings.
If you had an algorithm that factored in square footage, bedrooms, bathrooms, distance to schools, distance to transit, etc. and everybody followed it strictly, you would have a cartel of landlords and no competition among each other. At that point, what stops them from collectively agreeing to raise the price by 5% each year? It’s not like housing supply will ever exceed demand, and consumers can’t exactly boycott shelter.