Heading into 2025, portfolio growth was at the top of property management companies’ list of priorities for the seventh year straight.
But there’s been a noticeable shift in companies’ plans for portfolio growth over the past year—and that’s what we’ll cover in this installment of our research content series The Lookout.
Property Management Companies’ Portfolio Growth Plans for 2025 & 2026
For ten years now, Buildium has surveyed thousands of property management professionals to find out where their companies’ focus lies for the year ahead.
Again and again, respondents have told us that expanding their portfolios is their top priority.
In Buildium’s most recent survey, 91% of third-party property management companies told us that they expect to grow their portfolios in the two years to come.
That’s about the same as what they told us the previous year… and the year before that, and the year before that.
As for how property management companies will put these growth plans into action: More than any other growth tactic, they’re focused on expanding their portfolios by actively recruiting new clients.
Many will also encourage their current clients to acquire new properties. And as we’ll talk about later on, they may be pleasantly surprised by rental investors’ willingness to grow in the current market, based on the results of our most recent rental owners’ survey.
But in addition, over the last couple of years, we’ve seen an increase in the number of companies who are expanding via inorganic growth methods.
More than a third plan to grow through acquisitions of other companies’ or investors’ portfolios, particularly as we’re seeing older business owners retire.
A slightly smaller share are purchasing or building new properties of their own.
And others are expanding the types of properties they manage, or the geographic areas they serve.
The Pandemic’s Impact on Property Management Companies’ Portfolio Growth
All of this represents a continuation of a cycle that started back in 2021.
Once property managers and their investor clients recovered from the initial shock of the pandemic, they got back to work growing their businesses.
But starting in 2024, we’ve been seeing early signs of a shift into a new phase of that growth cycle.
When we dug into the data on property management companies’ growth plans, we didn’t see a decrease in the overall number of companies who planned to expand.
What we saw was a change in how much those companies plan to expand.
Just as many companies told us that they plan to grow by a significant amount over the next two years. But their definition of what qualifies as “significant” versus “slight” growth has changed.
In previous years, most respondents agreed that significant growth meant they planned to expand their portfolios by more than 25%.
But this year, we’ve seen an increase in the number of companies who plan to grow by less than 25%. 50% of companies now expect to expand their portfolios on this smaller scale—that’s up from 44% in 2023.
The Gap Between Property Managers’ and Rental Owners’ Growth Plans
What do we think is behind this shift? In 2023, we started to see a significant disparity in property managers’ growth plans versus those of their owner clients.
Back then, 92% of third-party property management companies planned to expand their portfolios—and their plans to do so primarily involved recruiting new clients and encouraging their current clients to grow.
But in contrast, just 35% of rental owners actually planned to add new properties to their portfolios as of 2023.
What was the reason for that gap? Rental owners cited conditions like high mortgage rates, elevated property prices, few properties for sale, and rising regulations on the rental market.
But even before the Fed started lowering interest rates, we’d started to see significant movement in rental owners’ growth plans, in a positive sign for property management businesses.
In our most recent survey, 44% of rental owners told us they planned to acquire new properties in the two years to come—an increase of 9 percentage points over the previous year.
As a result, property management companies might find themselves pleasantly surprised by rental investors’ eagerness to grow in the current market.
And your business might consider capitalizing on that trend by offering services that help owners grow—for example, giving investment advice and providing detailed monthly reporting.
The 2025 State of the Property Management Industry Report
All of the information you’ve just heard comes from our 2025 Property Management Industry Report—download your free copy now.
The report covers so much more than portfolio growth—it dives into:
- How companies plan to generate revenue to compensate for still-rising costs
- How they’re tackling challenges related to maintenance, staffing, leasing, and efficiency
- How companies can attract and retain high-quality renters and rental owners
- And so much more
And be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more intel on the rental market and property management industry.
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