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The main purpose of this study is to investigate the current usage of computers in Singapore’s property management companies. The findings confirm a paradox that in Singapore’s property management companies, computer applications are lagging behind the advancement of computer hardware and software. Three reasons may explain the paradox. First, property management companies are dealing with a small portion of properties in Singapore where public housing estates dominate the property stock. Second, property management involves many personal touches in which computers are not helpful. Third, software packages developed in other parts of the world may not suit the need of property management tasks in Singapore.

Assessing the value of property management services is challenging because of collinearity between property quality and the quality of property management companies. In order to overcome this challenge and isolate the impact of property management services, the purpose of this paper is to use an experimental approach inspired by work in labor economics (Bertrand and Mullainathan, 2004) to measure the value of property management services for residential properties in Hong Kong.

The authors surveyed over 150 experts in the real estate industry and asked them to estimate the value of five hypothetical properties. In each survey, the authors randomly assign different property management companies, which we have ranked by levels of quality, to the properties. In this way the authors were able to test whether property management services significantly impact property prices and whether this impact varies across types of residential buildings.

Results show that property management does add value, especially to older and more dilapidated properties.

Findings suggest that there is money to be made by high-quality companies providing services for lower quality buildings.

The experimental survey methodology applied in this paper provides an innovative way to measure company value.

This paper seeks to identify the manner in which the knowledge management (KM) concept can be implemented in property management companies in Malaysia.

The KM strategies for property management companies were designed and then tested among the property management companies in Malaysia. Sixteen companies were involved in this research to provide empirical results of the KM concept implementation in property management organisations.

The research findings suggest that the KM concept is becoming increasingly important and that the property management companies are practising some of the relevant activities. The findings also integrate the concept of KM and property management activities.

The research is based only on 16 companies registered under the Board of Valuers, Appraisers and Estate Agents, Malaysia, which governs property management activities in Malaysia.

This paper proposes to property management players to put into practice the KM concept within their organisations.

As the awareness of environmental preservation and of sustainable development have become increasingly pronounced among various stakeholders, such as governments and communities, many businesses, in response, commence to introduce environmental-friendly measures and/or implement an environmental management system (EMS) in their daily operations. Even a service-oriented industry such as property management is no exception. To showcase their commitment to this cause, property management companies tend to obtain different environmental certifications. This study aims to investigate the effect of green property management, through environmental certifications, on property price.

The hedonic price model is used to determine the impacts of different environmental certifications on prices of selected residential properties in Hong Kong. Three districts from different parts of Hong Kong, including 16 private residential developments, are covered in this study.

The results show that ISO 14001 certification itself is not statistically significant in explaining property price. It is only when a property management company has obtained other local environmental management awards/certificates that varying levels of (positive) property price premiums are found. Nonetheless, the authors also find that controlling for other housing attributes, obtaining as many environmental certifications as possible does not necessarily result in the highest property price premium.

Nonetheless, the data sample has its limitations, such as its relatively small size and the unavailability of housing attribute(s) such as orientations.

For the implications, the value of environmental management awards/certificates, from the perspective of the end-users of property management services, is based on the scopes of these environmental certifications; the promotional effort on the part of organizations behind these awards/certificates; the disclosure of information about the EMS itself and the assessment criteria; and the public’s perceptions as to the companies’ rationale behind such certifications.

The study has provided some insights regarding the effect of various management standard certifications in property management, from the perspective of the end-users of the service (i.e. homeowners and potential homebuyers). This serves as a reference for developers, property managers, buyers and users alike.

As environmental awareness has become increasingly pronounced among various stakeholders such as governments and communities, many businesses start to adopt a more environmental-friendly approach in their operations. Even a service-oriented industry such as property management is no exception. One way to showcase a company's commitment to this cause is to become ISO14001-certified, under which it is required to implement an environmental management system. In light of this, this paper aims to investigate the impact of this certification in property management, along with two other well-known management certifications/awards in ISO9001 and Hong Kong Management Association Quality Award (HKMAQA), on property price.

The hedonic price model was used to determine whether or not there is a relationship between ISO14001 certification (as well as ISO9001 and HKMAQA) and property price, and if so, its impact. Three districts from different parts of Hong Kong, including 17 private residential developments, were covered in this research.

The results show that a flat managed by a company with ISO9001 certification is 8.87 percent higher than another flat managed by a non-ISO9001-certified property management companies (PMC); the adoption of ISO14001 certification appears to help generate a premium of about 3.65 percent in property price for a PMC which has already been ISO9001-certified; and for a company already with both ISO9001/14001 certifications, the obtaining of HKMAQA brings about an extra 15.37 percent in housing price. It can be said that the impact of ISO14001 certification on property value is smaller than that of the other two management standards.

The findings do not necessarily suggest that the adoption of ISO14001 (or HKMAMA) generates the exact same premium to a residential property by itself, as two or more components in tandem may create more value than the sum of the parts. Nonetheless, considering that most companies have already been ISO9001-certified prior to considering an ISO14001 certification, they, as separate variables, are inevitably highly correlated which could be an issue when using methods such as hedonic models. This renders the assessment of the impact on property price solely attributed to ISO14001 rather problematic if they are studied together.

In the short run, ISO14001 certification, as a public relations tool, might actually help flats within these developments to gain an advantage over the competitors within the district, or at least offset the adverse impact of some of its intrinsic defects in order to stay competitive (for instance, the age issue and the smaller brand name effect due to the development's lack of scope), but not in the long run.

The paper has provided some insights regarding the effect of various management standard certifications in property management, from the perspective of the end-users (i.e. homebuyers), rather than from that of those involved in the operations as seen in previous studies. This serves as a reference for developers, property managers, buyers, and users alike.

The purpose of this paper is to identify factors on property management level for analysing incentives for an effective property management in an outsourced setting.

This research is based on an interview study of a set of three real estate-owning companies and their contracted facility management companies’ property management teams.

The study concludes that the property manager within the facility management company is highly controlled by the contract between the real estate owner and the facility management company. However, this contract does risk the individual property manager to prioritise the wrong work tasks as she/he has to know exactly what to prioritise in each contract and consider in whose interest she/he performs each task, the real estate owner, her/him employer or the tenants.

The research in this paper is limited to Swedish commercial real estate sector.

The insight in the paper is regarding how real estate owners create incentives for the facility management companies’ property management organisation and how that are perceived by the individual property manager.

It provides an insight regarding how the commercial real estate industry prioritises different work tasks and how incentives are created to enable effort.

Compiled by K.G.B. Bakewell covering the following journals published by MCB University Press: Facilities Volumes 8‐17; Journal of Property Investment & Finance Volumes 8‐17; Property Management Volumes 8‐17; Structural Survey Volumes 8‐17.

Compiled by K.G.B. Bakewell covering the following journals published by MCB University Press: Facilities Volumes 8‐17; Journal of Property Investment & Finance Volumes 8‐17; Property Management Volumes 8‐17; Structural Survey Volumes 8‐17.

In the current urban and increasingly digital/information era, the service of property management towards residents is of key importance to the well-being of society, which is especially well reflected in its role during the COVID-19 pandemic in China. However, professional knowledge management (KM) has yet to be applied to the daily operation of the property management companies in this sector. The authors posit that introduction of KM concepts to property management at this time would significantly help facilitate the transition of traditional property management towards a higher and more effective value-added service model. From the perspective of KM, this study aims to offer both a theoretical and practical analysis of such a novel business model for companies in the property management industry.

Given the current status quo of property management, the authors integrate theories from both KM and information-digital management to qualitatively analyse the challenges and difficulties companies are facing and importantly offer practical suggestions for the centralization, digital-information platform establishment and service innovation.

Following the analysis of KM and digital-information modeling, the authors identify three main challenges facing property management services offered in the current digital society including market fragmentation, lack of digital platforms and the absence of a unitary service model. Therefore, the authors propose strategic solutions to resolve these aforementioned problems. Specifically, the authors suggest centralizing property management service, the establishment of a KM-based digital platform and the upgrading of the service model, towards offering a new impetus for the development of companies in property management.

The authors offer essential guidelines derived from knowledge and information management and explore their implications both from a theoretical, as well as pragmatic/practical perspective that overall would support property management companies’ crucial transition from the traditional service model to a more digital-based foundation, and hence, provide a higher value-added service for the residents.

The current study is one of the first attempts to analyse property management services from the perspective of KM with digital transformation enabling its transition to an information-based internet of things infrastructure. The study not only offers practical guidance to the business of property management but importantly, also contributes to the theoretical underpinnings of KM especially as related to secure serviceability, well-being, security and efficiency of the residential environment by integrating people, place, process and technology.

In the knowledge economy, the management of knowledge is important because the value of corporations and individuals is directly related to their knowledge and intellectual capital. This is especially true for real estate management, which is of increasing concern to the public and plays an important role in the property market today. This paper aims to show the nature of property professionals' acquisition, sharing and reuse of knowledge in their work.

To better understand the practices of knowledge management (KM) currently employed by property management firms, a study of the general practices of knowledge management in property management firms in Hong Kong was undertaken. This study described the notion of knowledge and knowledge management and investigated the norms of property professionals in acquiring, sharing and reusing knowledge in their daily practices. It also analyzed the relationship between size of firms and methods of knowledge acquisition and sharing. A questionnaire survey was conducted to study the opinions of professional property managers on the acquisition and reuse of knowledge and experience in their daily work. Questionnaires were sent to 103 PM firms with a response rate of 30 percent.

The survey results reveal that property managers mostly acquire their knowledge from the internet and newspapers. They also obtain knowledge from their colleagues and thus they are always important target persons with whom to share knowledge. In addition, property managers have close contact with professionals within and beyond their profession, allowing them to tap into and share knowledge across organizational boundaries. Although property managers are willing to share knowledge with others, there is no evidence to show that there are formal knowledge management strategies in PM firms. It seems that there is a need for explicit knowledge management strategies in property management, which could leverage their employees' knowledge assets.

Past research that studied other types of knowledge workers may not be applicable to the unique nature of professionals working in the property management sector.

The originality of this paper is that it examines the practices of property professionals in acquiring, sharing and reusing knowledge in their daily practices which have not been studied systematically before. This paper also makes suggestions for improving knowledge‐managing strategies in this profession to prevent knowledge loss.