Residential real estate development is a capital-intensive business with a lot of risks involved, particularly according to Swedish banks. Since the price fall and decreased consumer confidence on the housing market in 2017, banks have become considerably more restrictive with regards to their approval of construction credit, especially towards smaller and medium sized actors on the residential real estate development market. Due to this restrictive lending environment, small and medium sized developers are often forced to utilize equity capital to an extent that is unlikely to be optimal with regards to modern capital structure theories. The aim of this research paper was, therefore, to explore the financing issues within the sector, examine the financing options available to Swedish medium sized residential developers, and conclude what could be conducted differently by both financiers and developers within the sector to potentially resolve the suggested issue.  The method chosen to explore and examine the selected subject area was semi-structured interviews with highly experienced employees of medium sized developers located in Stockholm, Sweden, Swedish commercial banks and other alternative financiers active within the sphere of residential real estate development financing. The rationale behind involving both developers and financiers was to gain an understanding of the issue from different perspectives, and thus hear arguments and counter arguments for and against the current financing structure in order to find the most suitable potential improvements. The collected data from the interviews was thematically analyzed and discussed from a perspective of modern and established financial theory, such as the trade off theory and the pecking order theory, along with other relevant theoretical frameworks, such as anchoring, game theory and risk. What was found was that developers primarily have an issue with early project financing and moving capital efficiently between finished and starting projects. Paradoxically, it seems unlikely that developers currently operate in accordance with aforementioned established financial optimization theories due to them being financially conservative in an effort to signal financial strength to banks and be approved construction credit as a reward. Also, what was found was that there exists a lack of effective communication between banks and developers with regards to the development process and accompanied risks, leading to an even more restrictive bank due to the effects of asymmetric information. A potential improvement to the way in which developers currently structure their capital was suggested to be an involvement of alternative financiers in the short term in order to gain access to capital in the more sensitive stages of the development process, later refinancing the debt when possible, through the means of the traditional banking system. / Bostadsutveckling är en kapitalintensiv verksamhet med stora risker, särskilt enligt de svenska bankerna. Sedan prisfallet och det minskade konsumentförtroende för bostadsmarknaden 2017 har banker blivit betydligt mer restriktiva när det gäller godkännande av byggkredit, särskilt gentemot mindre och medelstora aktörer på bostadsmarknaden. På grund av denna restriktiva kredit-miljö tvingas små och medelstora utvecklare ofta att använda eget kapital i en utsträckning som sannolikt inte är optimal med hänsyn till moderna teorier om kapitalstruktur. Syftet med denna uppsats var därför att utforska finansieringsproblemen inom sektorn, undersöka finansieringsalternativen för svenska medelstora bostadsutvecklare och dra slutsatser om vad som kan göras annorlunda av både finansiärer och utvecklare inom sektorn för att eventuellt lösa det föreslagna problemet. Metoden som valts för att utforska och undersöka det valda ämnesområdet var halvstrukturerade intervjuer med mycket erfarna anställda från medelstora utvecklare i Stockholm, Sverige, svenska affärsbanker och andra alternativa finansiärer som är aktiva inom finansiering av bostadsutveckling. Motivet bakom att involvera både utvecklare och finansiärer var att få en förståelse för frågan ur flera olika perspektiv och därmed höra argument och motargument för och emot den nuvarande finansieringsstrukturen för att hitta de mest lämpliga potentiella förbättringarna. Den insamlade informationen från intervjuerna analyserades tematiskt och diskuterades utifrån modern och etablerad finansiell teori, såsom trade-off theory och pecking order-teorin. Därutöver analyserades och diskuterades informationen utifrån ytterligare ett antal relevanta teoretiska ramar, såsom förankringsteorin, spelteori och risk. Vad som konstaterades var att utvecklare främst har ett problem med tidig projektfinansiering samt att flytta kapital effektivt mellan färdiga och startande projekt. Paradoxalt nog verkar det osannolikt att utvecklare för närvarande arbetar i enlighet med tidigare nämnda etablerade finansiella optimeringsteorier på grund av att de är finansiellt konservativa i ett försök att signalera finansiell styrka till banker och tilldelas byggkredit som belöning. Vad som också konstaterades var att det saknas en effektiv kommunikation mellan banker och utvecklare när det gäller utvecklingsprocessen och åtföljande risker, vilket leder till en ännu mer restriktiv bank på grund av effekterna av asymmetrisk information. En potentiell förbättring av hur utvecklare för närvarande strukturerar sitt kapital föreslogs vara ett kortsiktigt involverande av alternativa finansiärer för att få tillgång till kapital i de känsligare stadierna av utvecklingsprocessen, för att senare refinansiera skulden när det är möjligt genom det traditionella banksystemet.

Denna uppsats behandlar hur fastighetsbolagens finansiering har utvecklats efter finanskrisen, hur finanskrisen specifikt har påverkat fastighetsbolagens finansieringsverksamhet samt i vilken utsträckning fastighetsbolagen har börjat använda alternativa finansieringssätt i sin verksamhet. Detta ämne är intressant då finanskrisen har haft en stor inverkan på det ekonomiska klimatet världen över vilket också inkluderar de svenska fastighetsbolagen och de svenska bankerna. Uppsatsen kombinerar en kvantitativ undersökning av alla svenska börsnoterade fastighetsbolagskapitalstrukturer med en kvalitativ undersökning bestående av ett antal intervjuer medrepresentanter från flera fasighetsbolag och banker. Den kvantitativa undersökningen visar att det skett stora förändringar i fastighetsbolagensfinansiering. Användningen av alternativa finansieringssätt, såsom preferensaktier, obligationer,MTN- och Certifikatsprogram har blivit vanligare i fastighetsbolagen. En stor anledning till detta är att bankerna i många fall har velat begränsa sin utlåning till fastighetsbolagen samtidigt som kreditmarginalerna har ökat på grund av bland annat högre kapitaltäckningskrav för bankerna. Utvecklingen av fastighetsbolagens finansiering kommer fortsätta framöver och alternativa finansieringssätt kommer i större utsträckning användas som komplement till banklån och stamaktiekapital. / This paper deals with how the financing in real estate companies has developed after the recentfinancial crisis, how the financial crisis specifically has affected the financing in real estatecompanies and to what extent real estate companies have started to use alternative ways to finance their operations. This subject is of high interest because the financial crisis has had a huge impact on the global economic climate, which also affects Swedish real estate companies andbanks. The paper combines a quantitative survey of the capital structure in all Swedish publicly listed realestate companies with a qualitative survey consisting of a number of interviews withrepresentatives from a number of real estate companies and banks. The quantitative survey shows that big changes have occurred in the financing of real estatecompanies. The use of alternative ways to finance them, such as preference shares, bonds, MTN and certificate programs have become much more common in real estate companies. A big reason to this is that banks in many cases have wanted to restrict their lending to real estate companies whilst the credit margins have increased due to, among other things, higher capitalrequirement rates for the banks. The fast development of financing in real estate companies will continue for years to come andalternative ways to finance real estate companies will continue to get stronger as a complement to bank loans and common stock equity.

Banks have become increasingly restrictive in their lending towards real estate, a development that is expected to continue due to further regulations, such as the Basel framework, and the emergence of new alternative financing options. As described by interview respondents, companies have shown an increased preference for a mix of capital sources following the financial crisis of 2008, which has led to an increase in demand on the capital and alternative markets. Factors that may have affected this development is the inflated corporate interest in maintaining a good credit rating and a change in investor sentiment towards a wider diversification. On the Swedish market, the so-called debt funds are a relatively new phenomenon and the purpose of this paper is to investigate how and what conditions that exist and have been necessary for this development. Debt funds already play a prominent role in real estate funding on other markets, such as US and UK, which could indicate a similar development on the Swedish market henceforth. However, as shown in the paper the markets are different on a systematic level, which makes it hard to draw parallels. Furthermore, as described in the empirical study the Swedish AIF market is underdeveloped in many respects since Swedish companies traditionally have used bank loans or turned to the capital markets - with a preference for equity before debt. With new regulations being introduced in the banking sector, the bank risk appetite has become more volatile, however, the banks retain a strong position and a continued large exposure to the real estate sector which may be due to the banks being well capitalized and an overall increased demand for capital. The increased demand for capital may also have given rise to favorable conditions for alternative financing options. However, in order for debt funds to continue to grow the key is most likely going to be offering loans with more favorable terms and longer maturities compared to other financing options.