diff --git a/org.springframework.beans/src/main/java/org/springframework/beans/factory/config/PropertiesFactoryBean.java b/org.springframework.beans/src/main/java/org/springframework/beans/factory/config/PropertiesFactoryBean.java
index fd4932d71da..9e0673ccfb0 100644
--- a/org.springframework.beans/src/main/java/org/springframework/beans/factory/config/PropertiesFactoryBean.java
+++ b/org.springframework.beans/src/main/java/org/springframework/beans/factory/config/PropertiesFactoryBean.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2008 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2010 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ public class PropertiesFactoryBean extends PropertiesLoaderSupport
 
 	public final void afterPropertiesSet() throws IOException {
 		if (this.singleton) {
-			this.singletonInstance = mergeProperties();
+			this.singletonInstance = createProperties();
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ public class PropertiesFactoryBean extends PropertiesLoaderSupport
 			return this.singletonInstance;
 		}
 		else {
-			return mergeProperties();
+			return createProperties();
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -83,4 +83,34 @@ public class PropertiesFactoryBean extends PropertiesLoaderSupport
 		return Properties.class;
 	}
 
+
+	/**
+	 * Template method that subclasses may override to construct the object
+	 * returned by this factory. The default implementation returns the
+	 * plain merged Properties instance.
+	 * <p>Invoked on initialization of this FactoryBean in case of a
+	 * shared singleton; else, on each {@link #getObject()} call.
+	 * @return the object returned by this factory
+	 * @throws IOException if an exception occured during properties loading
+	 * @see #mergeProperties()
+	 */
+	protected Properties createProperties() throws IOException {
+		return (Properties) createInstance();
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Template method that subclasses may override to construct the object
+	 * returned by this factory. The default implementation returns the
+	 * plain merged Properties instance.
+	 * <p>Invoked on initialization of this FactoryBean in case of a
+	 * shared singleton; else, on each {@link #getObject()} call.
+	 * @return the object returned by this factory
+	 * @throws IOException if an exception occured during properties loading
+	 * @deprecated as of Spring 3.0, in favor of {@link #createProperties()}
+	 */
+	@Deprecated
+	protected Object createInstance() throws IOException {
+		return mergeProperties();
+	}
+
 }