Background and problem: The financial crisis 2008-2009 came out from an over-optimism among those who took the real estate loans in the U.S., and especially so-called subprime loans. After the 2008 financial crisis, it has become a global uncertainty in the financial market with low growth, and even financial crises in the euro countries have appeared. The real estate industry is a capital-intensive industry where companies have a high leverage to implement their investment. This means they have a larger proportion of debt relative to equity than companies in other industries. As investments require a lot of capital, real estate companies become dependent on having a working relationship with both the banks and the capital market.

The bachelor's thesis is to examine the explanatory factors affecting the choice of capital structure in real estate companies. The analysis is based on data collected from the main financial reporting from 2007; all listed real estate companies listed on Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and Finnish stock market. Based on previous research and theories, we have defined five independent variables that are linked to the debt ratio, which are: profitability, growth, firm size, cost of debt and operational risk. The statistical tests have resulted in that we can say with certainty that profitable firms tend to have a lower debt to equity ratio. We can also say with certainty that property companies with high interest costs have a high level of indebtedness..

HSB Göteborg owns and manages the property Masthugget 11:13 also called the Corvette in Gothenburg. The Corvette contains mostly office space but also shops, homes and garages. HSB Göteborg utilizes approximately 5000 square meters to its headquarters but in December 2014 they will move operations to Johanneberg Science Park. The risk of an increased proportion of vacancies in combination with relatively low rents and other tenant terminations allows HSB to ask for a future plan for how the real estate should be developed in order to remain profitable.Through studies of the area, urban office prospects, property current status and legal and economic conditions have different potential types of businesses been evaluated. City Planning Office program proposal forms the basis for the analysis of future plans for the area.

In recent years, global organizations safeguarding financial stability has started to track commercial property markets. One of the reasons for this refers to the fact that commercial property constitutes a large share of bank lending. Simultaneously, bank exposures to commercial property are extensive and risky since collateral values are strongly correlated to borrowers cash flows. Since banks are viewed to play a key role for financial stability, studying the relationship is well motivated. To better understand how commercial property markets interact with financial stability, this paper develops an econometric model for studying the commercial rental market.

Swedish listed property companies report their investment properties under the standard IAS 40 that gives the opportunity to value investment properties to either historical cost or to fair value model. One problem with the fair value model is that there is no observable market price since the real estate market is far from complete which means that the price of the asset is hard to determine because of the limited information.IAS 40 gives companies the opportunity to choose between internal or external valuation and this study aims to show how the property companies? values appeared between the years 2007-2011. From the result we will study if there could be a difference in the outcome depending on if the company chose either internal or external valuation.To investigate this we observe all Swedish real estate companies listed on OMX Nordic Stockholm and their financial reports during this period of time and complement this information by interviewing people working with these matters in the property companies. The methodology for the study is therefore partly quantitative and partly qualitative since we collect data both from financial reports and from interviews.

The Profession of Real Estate Agents has by tradition been a male profession. However during later years the profession has changed. It is now many young women that are pursuing a career as a Real Estate Agent.In the light of this background we have researched how Real Estate Agents employed by Fastighetsbyrån and Svensk Fastighetsförmedling perceive their profession from an equality perspective.The investigation has been limited to include the counties of Värmland and Närke and have been conducted by interviewing Real Estate Agents of different age and sex and the managers of the firms.The study show that the Real Estate Agents perceive their profession in a positive way and that the work is divided equal. However it emerged that there were a division regarding different real estate types in certain agencies. The Real Estate Agents believe that the gender of the manager is of no importance.

Today's real estate buyers value the purchase different today compared to a decade back. Previously it was the return value that ruled the market. This has created problems when the broker must allocate the purchase price of the property's various elements, because non-monetary values such as forest for leisure, recreation, and the feeling of owing has increased in recent years and an increasingly important part in the valuation process. The assessed value can be a guide, but is perceived today to be stereotyped to put a fair value at the individual item. The purpose of this study was to provide the real estate agent decision support and a guide to the likely value of accounting for the purchase price. The report is written on behalf of LRF Konsult. The result is based on a questionnaire survey which was conducted in June 2014 among all those who had bought a farming property in Dalarna and Gävleborg province mediated by LRF Konsult in 2013. The report was made with a split to see if the valuation and motives differ between new and previous owners. It was possible to see a big difference in the reason for the purchase, where a large share of new owner bought the land for capital investment, in contrast to previous owners whose biggest group bought for an active use. At several points it was possible to identify a higher non-monetary value of the new owner from the previous landowner.

Debate over Intellectual Property Rights ?IPRs? particularly patent and copyrights is mainly on forward-looking industries in computer software. As part of a trade deal reached in 1994, the member nations of the World Trade Organisation must adhere to a global agreement known as TRIPS, for the Trade- Related Aspect of Intellectual Property Rights.This study is to analyse the ethical conception of Intellectual Property Rights and in particular its implications on the developing countries in relation to TRIPS. The approach will be to analyse a broad philosophical theories of property to see if there is any justification for a software program to be treated as private property and also argue base on John Rawls two principles of justice in relation to TRIPS Agreement. Some reflections will be put on the use of open-source software by less developing countries.From the study it was asserted that, strong IPRs protection would hinder technological transfer and indigenous learning activities in the early stage of industrialisation when learning takes place through reverse engineering.

This dissertation aims to explore how an investment appraisal differs depending on if it is conducted by a municipal or a private real estate company. Municipal and private real estate companies are not performing on totally equal terms in the property market. A municipal company in Sweden has a public service mission. The consequence due to that mission is that they have limited yield potential but on the other hand the right to certain subsidies. They are also limited by the law of public purchasing (in Swedish: Lag om offentlig upphandling) in the investment process.

Half of Sweden's productive forest land is owned by individual forest owners. Research studies show that forest owners have more objectives with their forest than a high net present value, and that the suggestions of the forest management plans doesn?t always correspond to the forest owners? objectives. Through a qualitative study we conducted a discussion about objectives at stand level with the aim of making a more specific formulation of the forest owners? objectives. We asked about the forest owners' objectives at stand level, what forest management they conduct in order to achieve the objectives and how this management affects the net present value of the property. Based on the results of the interviews, we analyzed what kind of factors decide where the objectives place themselves in the landscape and if the objectives at stand level are consistent with the overall objectives for the property. Many forest owners questioned the idea of talking about objectives at stand level, and they didn?t always have their objectives clearly defined.

This graduation thesis aims to give a survey of how cultural property is protected withininternational law and how these protections worked during the conflicts in the formerYugoslavia and later at the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, ICTY.Cultural heritage is important symbols for ethnicity, religion or political views. Because ofthis cultural property has been targeted in armed conflicts as long as can beremembered. The protection of cultural property within international law has developedfrom the midst of the 19th century up til today and is still developing towards strongerprotection. One of the latest armed conflicts where the cultural property became targetedwas the wars in Yugoslavia in the 1990?s.

The purpose of this study is to find out how buyers of forest-and farm land have valued the property's various parts. How buyers has valued the forest, field, pasture, house and the farm buildings on their property. A questionnaire with 22 questions was sent to 68 people how had bought a property in Kronoberg or Blekinge. They had bought the property in 2010 and first half of 2011, and the properties have been provided by LRF-konsult. To each question there were several alternatives and the buyers would choose the alternative that was most similar to his or her opinion. The study is based on 57 responses.

The report aims to examine how property owners position themselves to reach their targetmarket, and which strategies they use when positioning their product. The investigation has beencarried out mainly in the form of a case study in which a number of interviews with Stockholmreal estate companies has been conducted, focusing on commercial property market segment.The interviews have resulted in identification of common and specific strategies among thecompanies. These strategies have been analyzed in the light of the theory by Philip Kotler andKevin Lane Keller, focusing on how an offer should be designed to reach a competitive position.It can be concluded that positioning is a key activity for successfully addressing the targetmarket. Successful positioning mandates three key requirements to be met; determining thecategory to which the offer belongs, identifying similarities and differences compared to thecompetitors and developing a brand mantra. The result of the case study concludes that theproperty companies work similar in many ways.

A titania-supported nickel catalyst was prepared and tested in methanation in order to evaluate its catalytic properties (activity, selectivity and specially, activity loss), and compare it with an alumina-supported nickel catalyst.The titania-supported catalyst did not only show higher stability than alumina, but also presented a different cause of deactivation, carbon formation. In addition, a kinetic model was obtained for the titania-supported catalyst, and a study of the effect of different operating conditions (temperature, composition and partial pressures of synthesis gas and water) on the deactivation rate and carbon formation of this catalyst was performed.

Real estate agent is a popular occupation that many young people study today. They enter the market and will have to compete with experienced real estat agents. Why should the customer choose them instead of those with more experience? We describe the character of services offered, expectations and customer satisfaction. We have chosen to give a questionnaire to customers and real estat agents.