The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the status of Swedish real estate companies in terms of financial health and risk of financial distress. The background is the ongoing financial crisis, which partly can be derived from the American real estate sector. Publicly available accounting information from 16 listed real estate companies has been analyzed for a period of one year using financial ratios covering both the operational and financial activities. We find that the deceleration in the economy and in the real estate sector have forced the real estate companies to make large write downs, in line with the relatively new accounting rules, IFRS. Write downs are likely to reoccur during the following periods and real estate companies will therefore probably be forced to continue to show negative results.

The purpose of this thesis was to investigate how the distance between real estate manager and the managed item influenced the real estate management process. The overall real estate management within Lantmännen Fastigheter AB was investigated to give suggestions on how to improve the quality of the real estate management within the company. To do this, questionnaires, interviews and observations was performed within the Lantmännen Fastigheter AB organization. Real estate managers answered questions about their role as real estate manager, maintenance planning, decision processes, leasing and strategies within the company.The analysis of the questionnaires, interviews and observations showed that the real estate managers wants to rearrange their spent working hours around on working tasks to spend more time on the tasks that brings income and spend less time on tasks that are unsatisfying and unnecessary. The analysis also shows in which areas the real estate managers want more support and education and that they mostly work with unplanned maintenance.

Residential estates are created without any adaptation to the users who will use them. Clients wouldprofit on involving users in an early project stage to create housing estates adapted to the user?s needsand wishes. Clients of the housing estates that require missions from consultants should realize that noone exclusive can represent other people's needs, regardless of the theoretical expertise they possess. TheSwedish million programme in the 1970s is an example of how objective expertise gained control, whichled to the creation of outdoor environments where few wanted to stay and live.

Computers and business systems are used more frequently in a world where IT gradually is taking over. This is also true when it comes to the real estate valuation process where actors on the Swedish real estate market are using automatic valuation systems for real estate appraisal. But the real estate agents have not yet seen the charm in using these automatic valuation systems for real estate appraisal. Can the real estate agents also use the automatic valuation systems? We developed our three main subjects: the valuation process, an automatic valuation system and the real estate market with assistance from scientific articles.

During the period 1905 to 1940 it was possible to get a loan from the state to buy land and build a small farm or a house in rural areas. This loan act and its effects have been studied earlier in different ways, but never as a total study for a geographic region. The region Malmöhus Län has been chosen. The purpose of this paper is to study in which parts of the area loans were taken and who sold the land that was used for these purposes. Earlier studies have looked at a larger geographical area for some specific years.

The main purpose in this degree thesis is to investigate changes in performance when introducing a newly produced Real-Time database in one of CC Systems products, the Diagnostic Runtime Engine, DRE. The thesis is a collaboration between CC Systems, creator of DRE, and Mimer AB, developer of the Real-Time database.The result reveals that the time spent on database access is considerably lesscompared to the originally used database. The research has lead to several additional requirements on the real-time database and these are presented as part of the result in this thesis. The additional features will help making the product more suitable for DRE and similar applications.Additional research is required to be able to recommend the use of this product or not. Primarily the performance in another operating system, Windows CE, but also the introduction of additional features should be investigated.

This essay is a contribution to the process of reconstructing the meaning of a concept that has been long forsaken and somewhat forgotten. It examines the way in which the Swedish nobility perceived the politically active peasantry during the 1740s as an expression of the prevailing political culture of the period. The aim of this study is thus to understand a bygone world of thought that once existed in a very turbulent political culture. I focus on the words formed and articulated in the halls and rooms of the Swedish estates by which the thoughts, opinions and power of the Swedish government came to the fore. In doing so it is possible to say something about how the nobility, in their relationship with the peasantry, constructed an object which represented their perception of the Swedish peasant and what this meant.

Background: Within real estate companies assets according to IFRS/ IAS 40 should be valued at fair value, to compare with previous valuation criteria according to which real estate should valued at cost. Two models can be used within IAS 40, these are value at cost and fair value. When valued at cost the real estate value in the balance sheet should be specified at cost. The method chosen by the company should be used for all real estate within the company except for the premises used by the company. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to analyse and evaluate how real estate companies experienced the problems that arose when converting to IAS 40, and to analyse the effects on the companies key ratios as a result of the change of accounting method.

A real option model is developed to examine the crucial factors affecting the agricultural firms? decision to quit the production and rent out the land to a company building a PV power plant. The public policies in support of investments in renewable energies have created the conditions for a market regarding investments in PV installations in agricultural areas.The decision to switch offers to the agricultural firm and to society several economical, social and environmental benefits, representing sustainability. However, PV installations in agricultural areas require the allocation of a certain land area. By assigning a part of land to PV installations, thereby the area of land allocated to agricultural production decreases.

Real options analysis is a method for assigning value to flexibility in decisions, coming from uncertainty in future outcomes. This thesis ascertains to what degree this method is superior to traditional net present value analysis, with regards to ease of implementation in relation to the benefits from being able to measure the total value. Real options analysis is evaluated with a case study of the Swedish online gambling market, and conducted with the binomial framework of Copeland and Antikarov (2003). The authors find the sensible use of real options dependant on the specific situation to which it is applied, i.e. a certain degree of future uncertainty and managerial flexibility is necessary for justification of the increased workload.

Can landscape architecture be seen as an economical asset rather than as a cost? Can well designed outdoor environments affect real estate values? This study investigates the economical value of landscape architecture and its influence on real estate prices. Research results on the relation between landscape architecture and real estate values are here compiled together with a survey made among players on the Swedish real estate market of their attitudes towards the problem. This study shows that the players on the Swedish real estate market often are unaware of the economical effects of landscape architecture pointed out in the compiled research. The study also shows that to use this information in actual projects several steps need to be taken: better knowledge of the problem, more and better compilations of research results, effective channels to spread the compiled information, proper employment and implementation of the knowledge. Extended knowledge of the relation between landscape architecture and real estate values will result in new ways of making money on outdoor environments. This would in turn have consequences for how the real estate business treat outdoor environments and how landscape architects work. The study is divided into four main questions: 1: Is there a relation between good landscape architecture and real estate prices? 2: What is the view of the players on the real estate market in this matter? 3: Is there more knowledge, research and practical models at hand? 4: What future steps can be taken to broaden the knowledge and apply it to real situations?.

The aim of our master thesis is to study the way valuation of real estate is conducted by real estate companies. Furthermore we want to identify the factors that affect the relevance and reliability of the valuation. The reason for this is the introduction of IFRS, in 2005, and the application of the IAS 40 rules stating that real estate are to be recognized at fair value on the balance sheet. To do this we have performed a case study on 10 Swedish real estate compa-nies listed on the Stockholm stock exchange, OMX, Large Cap and Mid Cap list to see how the share value has performed in relation to the reported net asset value since 2005 and how they value their collection of properties. We also studied the assumptions made by real estate company analysts.

According to recent statistics the construction industry is responsible for the largest waste discharges of both dangerous and non-dangerous waste, when disregarding the "non-dangerous" amount of granite waste produced by the mining industry and the waste produced by the pulp and paper industry. Preventive work within waste management is an ongoing practice so to be able to reduce negative environmental effects. One of the most common actions for the companies to take is to separate the different kinds of waste from one another at the construction site. Although by working with the problem in earlier stages of the process a large amount of the waste could already have been reduced.Companies in the construction business that are actively working to decrease environmental impact in their operations often use an EMS (Environmental Management System). By using environmental management as method the company can manage their environmental work so that actions can be taken where they are needed the most.

The aim of this thesis is to get an idea of how service companies set their prices. The method used was a case study approach, which was conducted at three real estate companies. The study showed that when setting their prices, the main aspect is their own costs. However, we have found that several other aspects play a big role when setting prices on services in real estate business such as individual customer behaviour and market competition. We have also found that the real estate companies charge very similar prices.

Analysts at Venture Capital firms of today experience troubles when they try to explicate the intrinsic value, which they see in their investments. The traditional valuation models do not account the value of flexibility and analysts have to Through studies at a Venture Capital firm in Sweden, I have analyzed if Real Option analysis could help them to explicate the intrinsic value that they see.With the help from a decision tree, analysts can identify the hidden option values embedded in the investment. I find that real options can be a helpful tool for Venture Capital companiesto clarify the intrinsic values that they see in their investments. Real option analysis is however not a competitor to traditional value methods, it is rather a compliment..