With home prices down 22 percent from their peak in 2006, this might seem an inopportune time to roll out new products for the property market. But Investment Instruments Corp. – the company behind the Web services Rentomatic and Rentometer, the much-talked-about tool that lets people compare their rent to their neighbors’ – has recently upgraded its services.

Owen Johnson, a Providence resident who co-founded Investment Instruments in 2004, talked with Providence Business News about the latest updates to Rentomatic and how is company and its clients are handling the housing crunch.