As a large property management company, you know how important it is to establish standard processes and leverage technology. But staying competitive also requires keeping up with industry trends. That way, you can regularly tweak your processes to become more efficient, access new revenue streams, and maximize your profits.
Our 2025 Property Management Industry Report uncovers the industry’s biggest opportunities and challenges, and below we’ve highlighted the top six takeaways for large property management companies:
Fact #1: Acquiring Portfolios from Others Is an Increasingly Common Growth Strategy
1 in 3 property management companies list acquiring other companies or investors’ portfolios as their top plan for growing over the next two years.Â
It’s no secret that finding new units to manage can be tough right now. High home prices and interest rates may be keeping your existing clients from expanding their portfolios, and recruiting new clients can be challenging in a competitive market.
But have you considered acquiring other companies’ or investors’ portfolios? In our Industry Report, 36% of property management professionals said that’s how they plan to grow in the next two years. This could be faster than relying on your clients to buy properties—partly since home sales are down and partly because you instantly gain an entire portfolio of units instead of having to add them one by one.
If you run a larger property management company, you may have the resources to expand by acquiring smaller property management businesses in your area. Consider reaching out to companies that might benefit from investment and could be open to selling at a favorable price.
Fact #2: Optimizing Operating Costs and Collection Rates (with Tech) Is a Top Strategy for Profitability
To combat rising costs, many property managers are focused on cutting expenses, improving collection rates, and adopting labor-saving tech.
With 2 in 3 companies reporting that labor and supply costs have risen in the past year, optimizing operations has never been more important. Many leading property management companies are finding ways to boost profitability by cutting costs, and fine tuning collection rates. But how can you achieve this in a large organization?
One way is to invest in data analytics, which is all about collecting and organizing large amounts of data to uncover patterns that could lead to business insights. For example, data analytics can help pinpoint what you should charge for services, the most effective leasing strategies, or what market to invest in next. Even the slightest tweaks can greatly improve your profit margins over time.
If you’ve ever wondered whether hidden gaps in your company’s workflow might be draining profits, data analytics could hold the answer. And that’s exactly where property management software can prove invaluable. By keeping logs of all your finances, work orders, rental histories, and other vital information in one place, the right software can help you take a bigger picture view of your business and spot areas where you can be more efficient.
Pro Tip: Buildium’s Open API can integrate property, resident, and accounting data with your other business apps. That way, you can streamline your workflows and do away with clunky manual processes.
Fact #3: Outsourcing Admin Work to Virtual Assistants Can Mitigate Rising Labor Costs
As the ongoing labor shortage is increasing hiring costs, some property managers have pivoted to hiring overseas virtual assistants.Â
For many property management companies, finding and retaining top talent is a constant challenge. Over the past year, staffing jumped five positions on property managers’ list of priorities—especially for those managing 400 or more doors. This is partly due to a shrinking labor force and higher worker expectations.
One way to offset rising labor costs is to hire virtual assistants for admin work. In fact, as of 2024, 24% of property management companies are using virtual assistants. Unlike many areas of property management, admin doesn’t have to be done in person. For example, virtual assistants can easily take on digital data entry, reporting, and record keeping. Some other areas that property managers have found these assistants helpful for beyond accounting include leasing coordination, marketing, collections, and tech support. And if you hire from overseas markets with a lower cost of living compared to the U.S., you can even cut your labor costs.
If you choose to take this route, be sure to set up a system for choosing which tasks to outsource and a way to monitor the quality of a virtual assistant’s work. Property management is still a people-focused industry, so keeping up a high standard for quality and knowing which parts of the job to handle personally is the key to success with this strategy.
One area that lends itself well to outsourcing is coordinating repairs and maintenance work. A maintenance contact center service can preserve and even improve upon the responsiveness of an in-house team while removing a significant burden from your staff.
Fact #4: More Property Management Companies Are Adopting AI
A large share of property management companies are using artificial intelligence to perform time-intensive customer service tasks.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has taken many industries by storm—including property management. According to our latest survey, 20% of property management companies have adopted AI in their business. The most common uses include:
- Creating starter messaging for customer communications
- Writing property descriptions for rental listings
- Answering incoming questions on their website with chatbots
These use cases reduce the workload that goes with staying responsive to tenants. For example, instead of hiring support agents to answer resident questions, you can develop a chatbot to answer them and delegate complex questions to a smaller human team. This can not only lower your labor costs but improve your response times.
Similarly, instead of writing rental listing descriptions from scratch, you can start with an AI-generated description and have your staff make necessary edits. The key is to implement AI where it has a natural advantage while maintaining human oversight.
Pro Tip: Buildium Marketplace offers a growing number of third-party property management apps you can integrate with Buildium’s platform, including AI-powered tools for communicating with residents.
Fact #5: Many Property Managers Plan to Monetize Their Expertise with Advisory Services
Offering financial and investment advice has become a new way for experienced property managers to grow their revenue.Â
If your team has the expertise—or if you can partner with an expert in your network—offering financial and investment advice as a service may be a smart way to meet investor clients’ needs while differentiating your company from the competition.
For example, a small-time landlord may be nervous about expanding their portfolio to a new property type or geographic area. As an experienced property manager, you can advise them on best practices, common pitfalls to avoid, how to maintain regulatory compliance, etc.
Large property management companies often have valuable knowledge and experience that rental owners and other property managers can benefit from. By coaching them, you can help them take their businesses to the next level while earning extra revenue for yours. It’s a win-win.
Fact #6: Most Small-Portfolio Rental Owners Are Leaving Money on the Table
Many small-portfolio rental owners want to generate more income from their properties but don’t know how.Â
As in past years, this year’s research shows that most small-portfolio rental owners rate their properties as being in good financial health but not necessarily profitable. Yet, 79% of landlords also own their property primarily for the rental income it provides. This presents a major opportunity for property managers to help owners run their rentals more efficiently.
To connect with rental owners with small portfolios, start by seeking referrals within your network, exploring public records, making use of a service that lets leads come to you, or reaching out through direct mail. When pitching your services, acknowledge the unique challenges they face as small-portfolio owners and highlight how your expertise can simplify management and boost profits. Emphasize your proven track record in running properties efficiently to maximize their returns.
Future-Proof Your Property Management Business Today
Growing your property management business is one thing—sustaining profitability over the long term is quite another. In an industry that’s constantly evolving, it’s important to keep your edge by identifying new revenue streams and continually improving the way you work. These proactive steps can make all the difference in staying competitive, especially as market demands and operational challenges shift.
But here’s the catch: you can’t improve what you don’t measure. The first step to future-proofing your business is investing in a robust property management software platform that acts as a central hub for all your processes. With the right technology in place, you gain the visibility needed to track, refine, and elevate every aspect of your operations, from lead generation to tenant retention.
That’s where Buildium comes in. It can handle everything from tenant screening and property accounting to maintenance requests and rent collection—all in one place. Ready to see for yourself? Sign up for a no-risk, 14-day free trial.
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