Using a sample of 678 property portfolio changes (acquisitions, dispositions and joint ventures) of U.S. REITs during the period 1990 to 2009, I investigate the issue of what drives the property sector focus of REITs. Geltner and Miller (2001) argue that investors prefer to make their own diversification decisions using narrowly focused REITs as an explanation for the lack of diversification. On the basis of their argument, I develop and examine the research question of how investors react to a change in a REIT’s property type focus. I find a significantly negative market reaction to acquisition and acquisitional JV events that decrease property-type focus. However, I do not find consistent supporting evidence that dispositional events, including property sales and dispositional JVs which increase property-type focus, yield significantly positive abnormal returns. Only in the limited case of other property-type dispositional JVs do I find a statistically significant positive market reaction relative to those derived from the dispositional events that do not change the property-type focus on the basis of a difference test. In terms of the results of cross-sectional OLS regressions, I also find strong evidence of a diversification discount derived from acquisitional events that decrease the property-type focus of a REIT regardless of the sample period and the type of property portfolio change. However, I do not find evidence of a wealth benefit received by dispositional events which increase the property-type focus. In addition, I find that the deal size of the property portfolio change relative to the size of the firm and the number of security analysts following the firm are both significant variables that affect the abnormal returns upon the announcement of a property portfolio change. I also find no evidence to support the idea that the diversification discount comes from endogeneity as argued by Villanova (2004).

Sverige har under en längre period befunnits i högkonjunktur, något som enligt rapporter från Riksbanken troligtvis kommer att mattas av inom en snar framtid. I sämre tider är det av vikt att ha stabila tillgångar i sin portfölj och fastigheter kan då vara ett intressant investeringsalternativ med sin låga korrelation i förhållande till många andra tillgångsslag. I denna studie har det fastighetsinriktade investmentbolaget Fastator och dess portfölj studerats. Fastators portfölj består av bolag som samtliga är verksamma inom fastighetsbranschen. Ägarandelarna uppgår till mellan 50 till 100% och Fastators roll i bolagens verksamheter varierar beroende på hur pass involverade de önskar vara samt om de vill anta en aktiv, projektbaserad eller finansiell roll i bolagen.Studien har vidare undersökt i vilket utsträckning Fastators portfölj kan anses vara diversifierad. Utifrån teori och tidigare studier om modern portföljteori och diversifiering har analysen försökt besvara studiens två inledande frågeställningar. För att kunna förstå hur pass diversifierad Fastators portfölj är har innehaven kategoriserats utifrån fastighetstyp och geografi. Identifieringen av de olika fastighetstyper som förekommer på den svenska fastighetsmarknaden har gjorts genom att titta på de tio största svenska fastighetsbolagen baserat på marknadsvärde.Avslutningsvis har en slutsats av studien presenterats som visar på att Fastators portfölj inte kan anses vara diversifierad, detta då deras portfölj inte kan anses vara jämt viktad enligt den moderna portföljteorin. / Sweden has had a booming economy during the recent years. The Swedish Riksbank however believes that the economy will slow down in the near future. During times of uncertainty stable assets are often preferable where real estate assets are one interesting option with a low correlation to many other asset classes. This study examines the portfolio the real estate investment company Fastator consisting of companies active in the real estate sector. Fastator's ownership share in the companies are between 50 to 100% and their level of activity in each investment depends on whether they are acting as an active owner, on a project basis or keeing the investment as a financial asset.The study has analyzed Fastator's portfolio to see if it, based on modern portfolio theory and theories around diversification, could be considered as being diversified. Earlier studies in the field have also been examined to assist in answering the question. The evaluation of the portfolio's diversification is based on geographical locations of the underlying assets as well as the property types in the portfolio. Knowledge on the various property types that exist was obtained by looking at the portfolios of the largest real estate companies in Sweden.It is concluded that Fastator's portfolio cannot be considered diversified since the portfolio is not evenly weighted as required in the theory of modern portfolio.

In the mortgage industry, many mortgage lenders cannot manage mortgage workflow systems while meeting and exceeding organizational objectives. Organizations with an above-industry average turnaround time (ATT) to complete a retail mortgage transaction (RMT) from origination to funding experience revenue losses. Grounded in the proposition that mortgage loan purpose (MLP), mortgage loan type (MLT), and subject property type (SPT) impact ATT to complete an RMT, the purpose of this causal-comparative study was to assess the impact of MLP, MLT, and SPT on ATT to complete an RMT. Using archival data records (N = 146) from a selected mortgage institution in the state of Florida, the results of the 2 x 2 x 2 factorial ANOVA showed that there were no main or interaction effects F(5,140) = 0.42, p = .83. Implications for social change include the possibility for mortgage lenders to implement improved workflow processes to reduce costs and improve efficiency metrics and intrinsic value, thereby benefitting organizational stakeholders such as employees and consumers.

The goal of this diploma thesis was creation of pricing details for the determination of open-market rent without regulation of prices for apartments for the Brno – Královo Pole locality. As a basis for diploma were used data of achieving market rents taken from databases of two estate agencies. Apartments were divided into categories according disposition on small, middle, large and luxury. In each category was defined a standard from which was basic price made. After that were created twelve groups which enabled to judge influence of each factor on rent. As a factor (quantity) influencing a rent were defined – state of property, characteristic type of construction, equipment of apartment. As a result was total summary of basic rental prices for each categories relating to floor area and was defined influence of each factor.