The purpose of this Bachelor Thesis is to investigate whether the introduction of IFRS, and in particular IAS 40 regarding fair value accounting of investment property, has lead to increased financial risk for Swedish real estate companies. Financial risk is measured using several financial risk ratios during the period 2000-2009, effectively covering the period before and after the introduction in 2005. The financial risk is found to actually have decreased significantly in comparison with the control group. The relative decrease supports the notion of a factor unique to the real estate companies at least partially driving the change, possibly IAS 40. However, this change is, due to the statistic method employed, only an indication of the direction of change, and consequently interpretations of the magnitude of change cannot be made.

Abstract Title: Municipal property companies CSR investments Seminar date: 2015-05-28 State university: Halmstad University Institution: School of Economics, Technology and Sience (ETS) Level: Bachelor Thesis in Economics, 15 hp Authors: Carl Berg von Linde and Martin Samuelsson Examinor: Jan-Olof Müller Supervisor: Eva Berggren Number of pages: 39 Attachments: 3 Keywords: CSR, Municipal-owned housing, Social- and environmental responsibility, Strategic CSR, Legitimacy, Levers Research question: · How do municipal Swedish real estate companies invest in CSR and why? Purpose: The aim of this study is to understand how three municipal property reasons around investment in CSR and to identify different factors why investing in CSR differs between municipal property companies. Methodology: A qualitative study with abductive conducted semi-structured interviews of three municipally owned housing companies. Conclution: The municipal real estate industry uses CSR as a strategy to gain different benefits such as brand recognition. By acting responsibly, companies will strengthen their legitimacy and create long-term economic gain.

Mergers and acquisitions are common phenomenon in today´s society in order to increase shareholder value. Two years ago a fusion of Sweden´s two largest companies in the industry of real estate took place and even though three out of four mergers and acquisitions financially fail this certain case turned out highly successful. The aim of this thesis is to examine how the organizational structure and the management control have been designed and characterized the organizational performance and furthermore what are the success factors of the integration. By studying an acquisition and its potential effects on organizational structure and management control parallel to a model that describes the best practice guidelines for managers to successfully deliver value from their acquisitions, it can be shown that an acquisition has direct effects both on the acquirer and the acquired company and thus the new organizational structure. The main results, thus, is that through active leadership, increased specialization, and more decentralized and thus efficient management control a new organization has emerged consisting of the best features of two separate worlds..

The new accounting standards IFRS and IAS was implemented in January 2005, the purpose was to harmonize accounting standards world wide. As a result of these new rules the real estate companies are allowed to appraise real estates assets at market value. It has long been debated whether this appraisal fulfils the requirements for relevance, reliability and comparability.The paper attends to how banks control the information given by the real estate companies in the process of credit granting. As an introduction we describe the purpose of accounting and the problematic´s about appraisals with market values. Further on there is a discussion on which factors are taken into consideration when banks grant credits.The study is built on interviews at three different commercial banks.

Title: "The proper real estate agent"- a paper on expectations for new real estate agent's first impression. Level: Bachelor of Science in Business Administration Author: Jennifer Alm Supervisor: Jonas Kågström Date: 2011? June Aim: The purpose of this paper is to analyze how hiring managers in the real estate broker understand the jobseeker during interviews. This analysis is based on the recruiters description of the first impression and the non-verbal communication in comparison with relevant theory. Method: I began my research by studying scientific articles to obtain great knowledge of the subject and write my theory chapter.

BackgroundAccording to the Swedish Statistics Central Office (SCB) there were 2 064 000 detached houses in Sweden in 2009. The same year Nordea Bank released a report which described an increased interest in private finances among 2,4 million Swedes. Within the area of private finances lies that which concerns real estate. We argue that a house (detached house) is one of the most financially valuable assets a person will ever own and thus the increased interest in private finance is justified.In regard to this, the financial valuation of the property becomes an issue. When discussed, people mostly refer to the market value, which is the estimated value of the property on the open market.

Title: "The proper real estate agent"- a paper on expectations for new real estate agent's first impression. Level: Bachelor of Science in Business Administration Author: Jennifer Alm Supervisor: Jonas Kågström Date: 2011? June Aim: The purpose of this paper is to analyze how hiring managers in the real estate broker understand the jobseeker during interviews. This analysis is based on the recruiters description of the first impression and the non-verbal communication in comparison with relevant theory. Method: I began my research by studying scientific articles to obtain great knowledge of the subject and write my theory chapter.

In Sweden the real estate sector accounts for 33 % of energy consumption and just below 10 % of the emission of carbon dioxide. As a consequence of the external pressure from climate change it?s in everybody?s interest to reduce the energy consumption and thus reduce the emission of carbon dioxide. An additional incentive to reduce the energy consumption is the substantial increase of the energy price since the deregulation of the electricity market in 1996.In this study the techniques that exist to build multi-storey residential buildings with high energy performance will be investigated. Further the study intends to investigate the optimal energy performance from a real estate economic perspective.In order to investigate the optimal energy performance a model has been created with the parameters investment cost, rental revenues, operation and maintenance cost, discount rate and investment horizon.The result shows a relationship between a high investment cost and a high energy performance for newly constructed multi-storey residential buildings.

AbstractTitle: The Swedish real estate companies choices of valuation within investment properties and its further effects on the qualitative characteristics of accounting.-A study of the Swedish real estate companies listed and non - listed on the stock market, after the application of the international rule board.Background and Problem: From January 2005, all companies, listed on a stock market within the European Union, are required to prepare their consolidated accounts using common set of International Accounting Standards, IAS/IFRS. In Sweden, this opportunity has also been given to non-listed companies, to voluntary implement these rules in their consolidated accounts. One difference between Swedish accounting rules and contemporary International rules, deals with the accounting treatment of investment properties, which foremost affects the real estate market?s accounts. In contrast to the Swedish Financial Accounting Standards Council?s recommendation RR 24, the new standard, IAS 40, permits a choice between different accounting alternatives.

To purchase a house or an apartment is often one of the major personal financial commitments for a person. In 2005, 84% of the homeowners sold their homes using a estate agency. During 2006 several new opportunities appeared on the market, giving the homeowners more of a choice in what way to sell their homes. Media describes the alternatives in general ?as the agents on the Internet?.

Recent studies made by Margaritis and Psillaki,have shown that a lower debt ratio and higher efficiency are correlated in their studies performed oncompanies in New Zeeland. Other researchers have been able to show a connection between other industries than the one used in our studies,among these are Titman and Wessler. These studies have been done with a great selection of companies in different industries and time periods. However most of these researchers have used traditional ratios and variables.This study aims to find and analyze connections between returns and lower debt ratios in real estate companies listed on the Stockholm stock exchange. Instead of the traditional debt-equity ratio we will construct our own taking long term debts and property assets.

AbstractTitle:Behovet av kundorientering i fastighetsföretag, finns det?Author:Joel Nilsson ErlemanTutor:Agneta SundströmPurpose:Thru a quality point of view, examine and analyze how Akelius AB customer orientatesthem self in an area such as Brandbergen, were the demand is larger then the supply.Method:Through a qualitative research approach with an inductive and a hermeneutic orientation thestudy approaches Akelius AB and the company?s costumer orientation thru several interviews and asurvey. The gathered data?s purpose is to answer research questions to investigate how costumerorientations function and to how to implement it in real estate companies.Theory:The theory explains the meaning of customer orientation and its use in real estate companies.The theoretical discussion is based on a five-gap model, which is used to analyze the service quality inAkelius AB and to analyze the relation to their costumers.Empire:The findings show how Akelius experience costumer orientation in Brandbergen and thecostumer?s perception of Akelius AB service quality.Analysis:Compares the theory and the empirical data to see the service quality thru using the GapModel.Conclusion:Akelius AB satisfy their customer?s need in what could be expected of them. In thesituation with increased demand and lower supply Akelius AB have the possibility to offer theircostumers a much lower quality than the costumers usually wants and expect.

Syfte: Vi ska analysera hur fastighetsmäklare värderar småhus och hur de använder sig av taxeringsuppgifter, det vill säga de egenskapsuppgifter om tomtmark och småhus som samlats in vid fastighetstaxeringen från fastighetsägarna. Vi ska även sammanställa en modell över de faktorer som har central betydelse vid uppskattning av marknadsvärdet.Metod: En kvalitativ metod har använts där vi genomfört personliga intervjuer med fastighetsmäklare. Teorin baseras på relevant litteratur, vetenskapliga artiklar och elektroniska källor. Empirin redovisas genom en kategorianalys.  Resultat & slutsats: Vi har kommit fram till att fastighetsmäklare med erfarenhet inte följer de steg som teorin tar upp vid fastighetsvärdering.

Background:Investments in different forms have always been popular to every human being. For the most common investments, such as stocks and bonds, there are loads of information to gather for the investor. Historical data like risk, return, dividends and fundamental data like annual reports are often very easy to find, regarding these kinds of investments. The background of this thesis is the lack of market information in residential real estate investments. A problem with this investment is that there is lack of information regarding risk adjusted return for real estates, which this thesis intends to present.Objective:The objective with this thesis is to study which alternative, directly-owned residential estates or stocks, who generates the highest risk adjusted return.

This thesis aims to investigate the information effects of fair value accounting in Nordic real estate companies. As a consequence of the mandatory IFRS adoption in the European Union in 2005, listed Nordic companies are allowed to recognize investment property at fair value in accordance with IAS 40. Theory suggests that fair value accounting should lower information asymmetry. Therefore, this study aims to examine correlation between fair value accounting of investment property and information asymmetry on the stock market. To investigate this, we use bid-ask spread as a proxy for information asymmetry and examine Nordic real estate companies before and after the implementation of IFRS.