Bostadsbolags hyressättning och investeringsbenägenhet i nyproducerade hyreslägenheter : hur införandet av presumtionshyra har förändrat bostadsbolag verksamma inom Halland.

Sammanfattning: Title: Real estate companies´ rent setting and investment propensity in new construction of rental apartments –how the introduction of presumption rent has changed real estate companies operating within Halland. Problem background: The housing shortage has for a long time been a commonly known problem in Sweden and the greatest shortage consists of in particular rental apartments. Even though the shortage is a fact, today´s new construction is not enough to compensate for the many years of housing shortage in combination with the increasing population. Above all, the shortage is attributable to the lack of investment propensity in new construction of rental apartments, due to the fact that rental regulations limit its profitability. The limited profitability in new construction of rental apartments and the problems surrounding its rent setting was discussed as early as the time around World War II. Although the rent system and its regulations have changed significantly over the years, both the shortage and the problems surrounding new construction of rental apartments remain. Since real estate companies require probability to invest the government saw the need to reform the rent system. In 2006 they introduced a possibility to abandon the current rent regulations, called the presumption rent. The purpose was to stimulate investment in new construction of rental apartments by allowing a higher rent during the first 15 years, and thereby increase its profitability. Purpose: The purpose of the essay is to explain how presumption rent has changed the rent setting and investment propensity in new construction of rental apartments in real estate companies operating within Halland. In order to fulfill the purpose, we will describe how the rent setting is done and how real estate companies make an investment decision. Research problem: How has presumption rent changed real estate companies´ rent setting and investment propensity in new construction of rental apartments? Method: The essay is of both deductive and inductive nature since previous research formed the core for gathering the empirical data and then was adjusted after completed interviews. As previous research within the subject was limited, we chose to conduct a qualitative survey through personal interviews with respondents from Halmstad Fastighets AB, Eksta Bostads AB, Fastighetsstaden i Halmstad AB and Trollängen Bostad AB. Since the essay was based on interviews with four real estate companies operating within Halland the intention was not to allow generalization. Findings: The result shows that real estate companies independent size and ownership for most part base their investment decisions on profitability, but also include preferences, values and intuition in their decision making. The result also shows that presumption rent has increased and that the greatest interest is found in large private real estate companies. The real estate companies that use presumption rent today agree that the rent system stimulates investment propensity in new construction of rental apartments, while other real estate companies claim that they have the same investment propensity since they reach equally high rent levels. Keywords: rent setting, presumption rent, new construction, rental apartments, investment propensity, investment decision.