Banks and insurance companies have sold their properties and foreign investors have barged to Finnish markets. In a nutshell, that is what has happened in the Finnish market in recent years.

Meanwhile the roles in the business have been re-cast. More and more often, it is a company specialised in property management managing the property owner’s portfolio and making sure the property remains profitable.

This may seem like a double role. However, a company specialised in property management does not necessarily provide services related to property maintenance itself, but it contracts other service providers after organising tenders for them.

- We are not a service provider, we function as a network manager. We aim at specialising in operative property portfolio management. In its broadest sense, it includes managing the property portfolio according to client’s strategy, renting and maintaining the facilities, and contracting all required services, Ovenia Managing Director Mika Valtonen explains.

According to him, the business is now undergoing a third wave of changes. In the early 1990’s, property owners started outsourcing many functions that were until then owned and carried out by themselves.

Typically, contracts on maintenance services were made with service providers for a few years. The aim was simply to establish a set price for the service. The personnel moved over to work for the service provider.

Riding the second wave, clients already knew how to set objectives for services, e.g. aimed at cutting costs. Today we are experiencing the third wave and a change towards a situation where a property management company may be responsible for its client’s property portfolio in its entirety.

This will also change the relationship between the property management company and the client.

- We are becoming more consultative. We have to be very active towards our client and we have to understand how our client’s business works. If we manage this much, we are able to make the property and premises “work” more effectively, too, creating financial gain for our client, Valtonen says.

There are several property management companies operating in Finland. Valtonen explains that the business still works so that most companies offer their services to all potential clients.

This is, however, about to change soon. The market calls for specialisation.

- For example, we have to be able to penetrate the businesses deeper than before. Also, the services offered to Finnish investors may be unlike those offered to foreign investors in the future, Valtonen says.

So far, foreign companies in the Finnish market have mainly played the part of investors. Valtonen believes this too will change.

Foreign companies aim at entering the property management business as well.

At the same time Finns have to follow their clients abroad and try to stay afloat in the middle of a whole new kind of waves.

- There is a wealth of know-how in property management and maintenance in Finland. We will simply need to translate this know-how into the right kind of service products, Valtonen concludes.