diff --git a/scrplugin/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/scrplugin/PropertyHandler.java b/scrplugin/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/scrplugin/PropertyHandler.java
index 88b92a1..6194c15 100644
--- a/scrplugin/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/scrplugin/PropertyHandler.java
+++ b/scrplugin/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/scrplugin/PropertyHandler.java
@@ -35,6 +35,11 @@
  */
 public class PropertyHandler {
 
+    /** This is a map using the name as the key and {@link PropertyDescription}
+     * as values.
+     */
+    final private Map properties = new HashMap();
+
     /**
      * @param property
      * @param name
@@ -220,7 +225,7 @@
         throw new MojoExecutionException("Referencing values from foreign classes not supported yet.");
     }
 
-    public void testProperty(Map properties, JavaTag property, String defaultName, JavaField field, boolean isInspectedClass)
+    public void testProperty(JavaTag property, String defaultName, JavaField field, boolean isInspectedClass)
     throws MojoExecutionException {
         final String propName = this.getPropertyName(property, defaultName);
 
@@ -232,10 +237,44 @@
                     throw new MojoExecutionException("Duplicate definition for property " + propName + " in class " + property.getJavaClassDescription().getName());
                 }
             } else {
-                properties.put(propName, new Object[] {property, field});
+                properties.put(propName, new PropertyDescription(property, field));
             }
         }
     }
 
+    public void handleField(JavaField javaField, boolean isInspectedClass)
+    throws MojoExecutionException {
+        final JavaTag tag = javaField.getTagByName(Constants.PROPERTY);
+        if (tag != null) {
+            String defaultName = null;
+            if ( "java.lang.String".equals(javaField.getType()) ) {
+                final String[] initValues = javaField.getInitializationExpression();
+                if ( initValues != null && initValues.length == 1 ) {
+                    defaultName = initValues[0];
+                }
+            }
+            this.testProperty(tag, defaultName, javaField, isInspectedClass);
+        }
+    }
 
+    public void processProperties(final Component component, final OCD ocd)
+    throws MojoExecutionException {
+        final Iterator propIter = properties.entrySet().iterator();
+        while ( propIter.hasNext() ) {
+            final Map.Entry entry = (Map.Entry)propIter.next();
+            final String propName = entry.getKey().toString();
+            final PropertyDescription desc = (PropertyDescription)entry.getValue();
+            this.doProperty(desc.propertyTag, propName, component, ocd, desc.field);
+        }
+    }
+
+    protected static final class PropertyDescription {
+        public final JavaTag propertyTag;
+        public final JavaField field;
+
+        public PropertyDescription(final JavaTag p, final JavaField f) {
+            this.propertyTag = p;
+            this.field = f;
+        }
+    }
 }
diff --git a/scrplugin/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/scrplugin/SCRDescriptorMojo.java b/scrplugin/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/scrplugin/SCRDescriptorMojo.java
index ad39889..b36bc95 100644
--- a/scrplugin/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/scrplugin/SCRDescriptorMojo.java
+++ b/scrplugin/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/scrplugin/SCRDescriptorMojo.java
@@ -224,8 +224,7 @@
         boolean inherited = getBoolean(componentTag, Constants.COMPONENT_INHERIT, true);
         this.doServices(description.getTagsByName(Constants.SERVICE, inherited), component, description);
 
-        // collect properties and references from class tags and fields
-        final Map properties = new HashMap();
+        // collect references from class tags and fields
         final Map references = new HashMap();
 
         JavaClassDescription currentDescription = description;
@@ -233,7 +232,7 @@
             // properties
             final JavaTag[] props = currentDescription.getTagsByName(Constants.PROPERTY, false);
             for (int i=0; i < props.length; i++) {
-                this.propertyHandler.testProperty(properties, props[i], null, null, description == currentDescription);
+                this.propertyHandler.testProperty(props[i], null, null, description == currentDescription);
             }
 
             // references
@@ -250,31 +249,14 @@
                     this.testReference(references, tag, fields[i].getName(), description == currentDescription);
                 }
 
-                tag = fields[i].getTagByName(Constants.PROPERTY);
-                if (tag != null) {
-                    String defaultName = null;
-                    if ( "java.lang.String".equals(fields[i].getType()) ) {
-                        final String[] initValues = fields[i].getInitializationExpression();
-                        if ( initValues != null && initValues.length == 1 ) {
-                            defaultName = initValues[0];
-                        }
-                    }
-                    this.propertyHandler.testProperty(properties, tag, defaultName, fields[i], description == currentDescription);
-                }
+                this.propertyHandler.handleField(fields[i], description == currentDescription);
             }
 
             currentDescription = currentDescription.getSuperClass();
         } while (inherited && currentDescription != null);
 
         // process properties
-        final Iterator propIter = properties.entrySet().iterator();
-        while ( propIter.hasNext() ) {
-            final Map.Entry entry = (Map.Entry)propIter.next();
-            final String propName = entry.getKey().toString();
-            final Object[] values = (Object[])entry.getValue();
-            final JavaTag tag = (JavaTag)values[0];
-            this.propertyHandler.doProperty(tag, propName, component, ocd, (JavaField)values[1]);
-        }
+        this.propertyHandler.processProperties(component, ocd);
 
         // process references
         final Iterator refIter = references.entrySet().iterator();