Kapitalstrukturens utveckling i svenska fastighetsbolag En beskrivande analys av utvecklingen av kapitalstrukturen hos 20 svenska börsnoterade fastighetsbolag.

Sammanfattning: This quantitative study aims to describe the development of the capital structure within Swedish real estate companies that are listed on the stock exchange. The study consists of 20 companies who each have been individually analyzed over the years 2006 to 2022 and grouped based on similar developments. The empirics of the study is based on the debt to equity ratio and is compared to the fluctuations of the Swedish interest rate set by Riksbanken as a reference for the cost of capital. The purpose is to further clarify and describe the development of the capital structure within Swedish real estate companies. The changes are analyzed and compared with the Trade Off- and Pecking Order-theory. The results of the study shows that 18 of the 20 companies seem to stabilize around the debt to equity ratio of 100% on average regardless of the initial debt to equity ratio, indicating the possible use of a target according to the Trade Off-theory. The Pecking Order-theory is applicable to describe certain developments but not as well as the Trade Off-theory. Another possible explanation of the development is the effect of past crises which can have impacted the risk preferences of the companies.