Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Ethics in real estate business'

Problem: Problemet som legat till grund för intresset och inriktningen med denna magisteruppsats är då tidigare kontorsfastigheten Skatteskrapan skulle byta ägare och användningsområde. En planerad ombyggnad ställde till problem med avseende på uppskattningen av ombyggnadskostnader. I slutändan handlar problemet om ett värderingsproblem. Detta problem tillsammans med andra ex-empel där fastigheter bytt användningsområden har väckt ett intresse att göra en ingående undersökning av det svenska fastighetsvärderingsområdet. Denna uppsats är indelad i fem olika delundersökningar. Initialt sker en presentation av svenska metoder för fastighetsvärdering. Vidare under-söks olika faktorer som har olika värdepåverkande effekter på fastighetsvärdet. Därefter genomförs en undersökning av hur nya användningssituationer kan vålla värderingsproblem samt hur ett värde fastställs i en sådan situation. Nästa steg består utav en undersökning av internationella värderingsmetoder. Studien avslutas sedan med en undersökning av nya trender som utvecklats inom fastighetsvärderingen.

Syfte: Syftet med denna magisteruppsats är att studera fenomenet fastighetsvärdering via svenska fastighetsvärderare för att erhålla en förståelse för hur de resonerar vid valet av värderingsmetod och bestämmer det slutliga värdet. Dessutom är syftet också att belysa relationen mellan svenska och internationella värderingsmetoder för att utröna likheter och skillnader.

Metod: Vi har valt en kvalitativ metod i form av åtta intervjuer. En förstudie, i form av en intervju, görs med professor Stellan Lundström, vilken ämnar till att ge en uppdaterad bild av forskningen inom området. Därefter hålls sju intervjuer med auktoriserade fastighetsvärderare. Värderarnas synpunkter analyseras sedan tillsammans med resultat från förstudien, teoretiskt ramverk samt tidigare studier. Analysen är baserad på en modifierad tankemodell som är skapad av forskaren Jan Matts-son. Genom denna modell har sedan fem viktiga nivåer, knutna till uppsatsens problemområde, analyserats.

Slutsats: Vi fann att de svenska värderingsmetoderna i stort sett utgörs av tre olika metoder. Dessa är avkastningsmetod, ortsprismetod samt produktionskostnadsmetod. De viktigaste värdepåverkande faktorerna var fastighetens läge samt dess skick och standard. Även hyreskontrakten och vakanser påverker till stor del. Beslut om ny användningssituation kan tas av olika anledningar. Det största problemet relaterat till denna förändring är uppskattningen av framtida kostnader, där ombyggnadskostnader utgör den största svårigheten. De internationella värderingsmetoderna är överlag de samma som de svenska. Kulturella skillnader föreligger i vilka metoder som används i olika situationer. De viktigaste nya trenderna är effekten av de internationella redovisningsstandarderna. En annan trend är det ökade användandet av automatiska analysverktyg.

Problem: The underlying problem within this Master of Science thesis is the emanating issues from the changed owner and usage situation of the former Tax Department. A planned reconstruction led to difficulties in estimating the reconstruction costs. In the end this problem is an appraisal issue. This problem led to an interest to make a thorough investigation of the area of Swedish real estate appraisal. The thesis is constituted by five different subinvestigations. Initially an exploration is made concerning Swedish real estate appraisal methods. Further, factors affecting the real estate value are examined. This is followed by an investigation of what appraisal issues that might occur in a new usage situation and how the value is estimated in such a situation. The relation between Swedish and International appraisal methods is then illuminated. The final investigation is concerning what new trends that have occurred on the Swedish real estate appraisal market.

Purpose: The purpose of this Master of Science thesis is to study the phenomenon real estate appraisal via Swedish real estate appraisers to gain an understanding of how they reason when choosing appraisal method and determine the real estate value. Additionally, the aim is also to highlight the relation between Swedish and International real estate methods to reveal differences and similarities.

Method: We have chosen a qualitative method taking the form of eight interviews. A total of eight interviews are performed. The study is offset by a pre-study with a professor at RIT, Stellan Lundström. The aim with this interview is to get an updated view of the latest research within real estate appraisal. This is followed by seven interviews with certified real estate appraisers. The results from the interviews with the appraisers are analysed together with the pre-study, theoretical framework and previous studies. The analysing process is based upon a modified thought model, originally developed by the researcher Jan Mattsson. The analysing process is presented in five steps that all are connected to the modified thought model and related to the problem area of this Master of Science thesis.

Conclusion: We found that the Swedish appraisal methods generally are constituted by three methods. These are the avkastnings method, the ortspris method and production cost method. The most influent factors on the real estate value are the location as well as the condition and standard. Also the rent contracts and vacancies to some extent affect the value. A rather large problem originates in the estimation of future costs, where the estimation of reconstruction costs is referred to as the largest issue. The international appraisal methods are equivalent to the Swedish methods. The largest differences are of cultural kind mostly caused by differences in legislation. New trends that are presented are the impact of the international accounting standards (IAS). Another significant trend is the increased use of automatic real estate analysis tools.

This is a study of the profitability of three European real estate markets. The returns from real estate investments in Stockholm, London and Paris are compared on a risk-adjusted basis. The study takes the perspective of a corporate real estate investor, an investment bank, insurance company or other actor who whishes to invest in real estate. Real estate consists of land and any buildings or improvements located on the land. The real estate market has a few characteristics that differentiate it from other markets. The planning and construction of buildings is a time consuming process. This makes the supply of real estate slow moving and unable to quickly adjust to changes in demand. Because of real estate’s importance for the economy at large and for society, the real estate markets of most nations are highly regulated by governments. Real estate investments are mostly long term and extensive use of debt is common. The real estate market has a business cycle of its own. These characteristics give rise to numerous investment opportunities for the well-informed investor. The time frame of this study is 20 years in order to cover several business cycles. The source of data is the Investment Property Databank (IPD). The results show that Stockholm is the high-risk alternative and Paris is the low-risk alternative of the three markets in the study. The total return consists of income return and capital growth. The average annual returns ranged from 7.5% in Paris to 11.2% in Stockholm. By including debt the returns of Stockholm and London could be leveraged to approximately 20% per year. Use of debt can also destroy value when the cost of capital exceeds the return on the investment, as would be the case for Paris. No significant correlation between the returns of London and Paris was found, while the returns of Stockholm and London were highly correlated. The risk adjusted returns of the three markets as measured by the Sharpe ratio show that Stockholm is the most profitable market, closely followed by London and Paris being the least profitable market.

The globalization of the business community has intensified the competitive business environment. Corporations now face not only national but also international competition. As corporations strive to both survive and grow, they continuously seek new avenues for both top line revenue growth and expense control. Corporate Real Estate (CRE) is a significant component of corporate costs, often cited as being the second largest cost after payrolls. As a result of these competitive pressures and the desire to control real estate costs, Corporate Real Estate Management (CREM) emerged as a recognized management discipline in the 1980s and 1990s. With the relatively recent advent of CRE as a separate management discipline, a wide variety of theories and models have been advanced that seek to explain the practice of CREM leadership, strategy, and performance management (PM). The purpose of this study was to further the development of the CREM discipline by identifying contemporary challenges that CRE leaders face. The study also examined the leadership practices and strategies they use to respond to these challenges, and the methods they use to measure the overall success of their strategies and leadership practices. Recommendations they would make to other CRE leaders to help them achieve success in their organizations conclude the study. The study was conducted as a qualitative phenomenological study. Data was collected from 14 senior CRE leaders by means of semi-structured telephone interviews. Subsequent analysis of the interview data resulted in 49 themes being identified of which 24 were considered major themes. The findings of the study are intended to guide the further development of the practice of CREM.

Since the mid-1990s, the role of agency in real estate transactions progressed from the representation only of sellers to include representation of homebuyers. The evolution of the dual agency concept has led to an array of problems, especially the likelihood of conflict of interest when agents or a brokerage endeavors to represent both homebuyer and seller in the same transaction. The purpose of the interpretive phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of homebuyers and sellers concerning the ethics of agents and brokerage while purchasing or selling a property under dual agency. A semi-structured interview format with open-ended questions was implemented individually with 14 participants in North Central Mississippi to capture a reflective picture of the lived experiences of participating in a dual agency transaction. The responses from the interviews were transcribed using a pragmatic format and NVivo10^® software was employed to code and categorize the data. The results of the analysis led to the identification of ten themes: accurate interpretation; similar to single agency transactions; honesty, trustworthiness, and full disclosure; by reputation and referrals from others; explained at offer or contract; effect on price and transaction completion; increased knowledge and understanding of the buying and selling process; repeat participation with same agent; recommend agent to others; and benefit from question on education of agents, homebuyers, and sellers. Leaders of the real estate industry may use the findings of this study to better understand the lived experiences of homebuyers and sellers utilizing a dual agency relationship.

Title: Investigations on the real estate market, what are the main factors influencing the performance of the French Real Estate Investments Trusts?

Problem: In 2003, the French government implemented a new tax-exempt structure in the real estate market. Like REITs in the United States, SIICs are listed French companies that aim to improve the performance of real estate stocks on Paris Stock Exchange. The problem consists of determining the performance of the SIICs’ portfolio, identifying the major influences of economic factors and capturing financial behaviour in asset portfolio management.

Purpose: Recently, the subprime crisis has largely brought out uncertainty of financial actors in the real estate sector. In this context, we try to apprehend the performance of these specific

SIICs investment vehicles related to financial, economic and managerial influences, by quantifying their stock performance in a five-year time frame.

Methodology: A deductive approach guides our thesis to emphasize our research question. Our business strategy entails positivism and objectivism considerations and relies on a case analysis research design using the multifactor model. Besides, the data collection process is following a quantitative approach of twenty chosen French SIICs between 2003 and 2007.

Result / Conclusion: Even if the multifactor model used by the authors may be viewed as unspecified, useful results can still be extracted and analysed. The hotel & LDG sector slightly performs better than others depending on the strategy of investment and the state of economy. Long-term interest rate acts as the principal explanatory factor. Investors do not necessarily respond in favour of the general market confidence indicator.