Accounting software for a property company tracking income and costs per building

For tracking income and costs by building, I’d shortlist:

• Buildium — a good fit if you manage rentals and want accounting alongside rent collection, bills, bank reconciliation, and property reporting. (buildium.com)
• AppFolio — worth considering for a larger or growing portfolio, especially if you need property and company accounting in one system, plus portfolio reporting. (appfolio.com)
• QuickBooks Online — may be enough if you mainly need bookkeeping and already use QuickBooks: assign each building a class and run income-and-expense reports by class. It’s less of an all-in-one rental-management system. (intuit.com)

Quick rule of thumb: For a few buildings and basic bookkeeping, start by comparing QuickBooks with a property-specific tool. If you also need leases, tenant payments, maintenance, or owner statements, compare Buildium and AppFolio.

Before choosing, check that the software supports your needs for per-building profit-and-loss reports, shared-cost allocation, bank reconciliation, and your accountant’s preferred workflow. If you tell me how many buildings you have and whether you manage tenants yourself, I can narrow this down.

Short answer: If you're a company that needs a real general ledger, QuickBooks Online Plus (or Advanced) with class tracking is the most common choice. If you also need owner statements and tenant or rent features, a purpose-built property platform usually fits better.

Option 1: QuickBooks Online (Plus or Advanced)

• Class tracking is what makes per-building reporting work. QuickBooks Online Plus or Advanced include class and location tracking for property-level reporting.
• The usual setup is one class per building, with a generic chart of accounts. Keeping account names generic and using classes for property detail lets you run a Profit and Loss by Class report that aligns with tax forms and shows profitability per property.
• The cheaper tiers won't work. The lower QBO plans don't support classes or locations, so you can't separate Property A from Property B in reports.
• Cost: sources disagree on the Plus price, with one listing $99/month and another $90/month, so check the current price on Intuit's site.
• Limitation: QuickBooks has no concept of "properties," "units," "tenants," or "leases." You'll also need to handle shared costs carefully, such as splitting one utility bill across two buildings.

Option 2: Purpose-built property accounting

• Rentec Direct: Closer to a true property accounting system. It offers profit and loss, cash flow statement, and balance sheet, plus property-by-property and portfolio-wide reporting in the same system. Its feature set also includes Schedule E tax reports and 1099 e-filing, and it supports data export to QuickBooks.
• AppFolio or Yardi Breeze: Better suited to larger portfolios. AppFolio's accounting tracks payables, receivables, and generates detailed owner statements. Pricing is per unit and varies, so get a quote.
• Stessa or Baselane: Better for investors with smaller portfolios. Stessa offers a free Essentials plan with unlimited properties, and Baselane lets you track income, expenses, assets, liabilities, and equity by property or entity.

How to choose

• Few buildings, mainly bookkeeping: QuickBooks Plus, or Stessa if you're investor-style.
• Several buildings, owner statements, or tenant payments: Rentec Direct or a similar property platform, often with a QuickBooks export.
• Many units or trust/security-deposit accounting: AppFolio, Yardi, or similar.

If you tell me how many buildings and units you have, whether you're in the US or elsewhere, and whether you need owner statements or trust accounting, I can narrow this to one or two options.

Choosing the right software for your property company depends largely on the size of your portfolio, whether you manage properties for others (which requires trust accounting), and how much you need to integrate operational workflows (like rent collection and maintenance) with your financial records.

Here is a breakdown of how to choose the right solution based on your specific needs.

1. Small Portfolios & Independent Landlords

If you manage a small number of properties and primarily need to track income and expenses per building for tax purposes, you can often use general-purpose accounting software or specialized landlord tools.

• QuickBooks Online (Plus or Advanced):
  • Best for: Investors who want a familiar, robust accounting system.
  • How to track by building: Use the "Classes" or "Locations" feature. By assigning each transaction to a specific "Class" (e.g., "Building A," "Building B"), you can easily generate a Profit & Loss report filtered by building.
  • Pros: Highly flexible, industry-standard reporting, and integrates with almost any other app.
  • Cons: Not purpose-built for real estate; it lacks native rent collection, lease tracking, or maintenance workflow features.
• Stessa:
  • Best for: Investors looking for a free or low-cost, real estate-specific tool.
  • Key Features: Designed specifically to track income and expenses at the property level. It provides automated income/expense tracking, dashboard reporting, and tax-ready financial statements.

2. Growing Portfolios & Professional Property Managers

If you are managing multiple units, handling rent collection, or managing properties for other owners, you need specialized Property Management Software (PMS). These platforms combine accounting with operational tools.

• Buildium:
  • Best for: Growing property management companies.
  • Why it works: It features purpose-built property accounting, including trust accounting (crucial if you hold tenant deposits for others), owner statements, and robust reconciliation tools. It handles the operational side (rent, maintenance) and the accounting side in one system.
• AppFolio:
  • Best for: Mid-to-large sized portfolios needing a comprehensive, all-in-one platform.
  • Why it works: It offers high-level automation, integrated accounting, and workflow management for residential and commercial properties.
• DoorLoop:
  • Best for: Users who want a balance of ease-of-use and professional features.
  • Why it works: It includes strong accounting capabilities, tenant portals, and maintenance tracking, making it a great middle-ground solution.

3. Specialized / Commercial Needs

If you have complex requirements like commercial service charge budgeting, CAM reconciliations, or multi-entity consolidation:

• Re-Leased or STRATAFOLIO: These platforms are designed to be "commercial-first." They integrate deeply with QuickBooks Online to provide specialized real estate reporting (like CAM reconciliations and lease-driven revenue schedules) while keeping the actual ledger in QuickBooks.
• Sage Intacct / NetSuite: These are enterprise-level solutions. Only consider these if you are managing a large-scale institutional portfolio that requires advanced multi-entity consolidation, strict audit trails, and high-level financial controls.

Summary Recommendation

Important Advice: If you are a professional property manager holding money for others, do not rely on generic accounting software alone. You require a system with "trust accounting" capabilities to ensure legal and regulatory compliance. Most dedicated property management platforms (like Buildium or AppFolio) are designed specifically to handle these complex financial requirements.

If your main need is one set of books with income and costs reported separately for each building, these are two good starting points:

• QuickBooks Online Plus or Advanced — A good fit if you mainly need accounting. Set up a class for each building, tag transactions, and run profit-and-loss reports by class. Intuit says property-level tracking is available in Plus and Advanced; check that class tracking fits your reporting needs before choosing a plan. ¹²
• Buildium — Worth considering if you also manage rentals and need property-management workflows alongside accounting. It offers property-specific financial reporting, bank reconciliation, and owner statements. Its Essential plan is listed from $65/month; pricing can scale with portfolio size. ³⁴

Quick rule of thumb: choose QuickBooks for general bookkeeping and property-by-property reporting; consider Buildium if rent, leasing, maintenance, and owner reporting should live in the same system.

Before committing, test a sample building-level P&L and check whether the software supports your country’s tax and reporting requirements. If you share your country, number of buildings, and whether you manage tenants or just company-owned properties, I can narrow this down.