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- Engerstam, Sviatlana, 1974-
(author)
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Housing Market Dynamics
- 2023
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The dynamics of housing markets constitute a complex phenomenon. The body of research is vast and includes thousands of studies done on the national and international level. Empirical evidence indicates that housing markets differ in local institutional arrangements and that these might affect the ways they develop over time. To analyze housing market dynamics in various institutional environments and to increase our understanding of them is the main objective of this thesis.The scope of research includes analysis of relevant theories and empirical models that might explain development of house prices over the long run. Given that prices affect housing construction, this thesis also aims to deepen understanding of the impact of the relationship between new construction and underlying fundamentals, together with various institutional arrangements that might differ between countries. In particular, they include bank lending policies, valuation methods for mortgage purposes, different regulatory measures like rent control, as well as land and building policies.The Swedish apartment market was chosen for empirical analysis. The analysis is carried out by a combination of qualitative and quantitative methodology and applies several research methods, such as systematic literature review, and panel data analysis with application of advanced econometric techniques like Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares, Fixed and Random Effects and Seemingly Unrelated Regressions. Four studies are carried out using these methodologies.The results indicate that the interest rate, disposable income and population growth seem to be major determinants of house prices according to studies found in the empirical literature (Paper 1). The study also classifies house price determinants in relation to the size of their elasticities. However, fundamental factors cannot always provide an explanation for the deviations in house price dynamics in different countries, whereas the institutional environment might do so (Paper 2). The analysis demonstrates that land prices and building policies, along with a number of market fundamentals, affect the average size of an apartment in new residential construction (Paper 3). In the presence of rent control, the rent or price level does not contribute by adding new units to the total housing stock. In addition, the displacement effect occurs primarily in the market’s rental sector and not in the tenant-owned apartments segment (Paper 4).This research contributes to a better understanding of housing markets dynamics and suggests policy implications that might reduce the risks for housing bubbles and improve the socio-economic development of the society over the long run.
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| 2. |
- Sundfors, David, 1980-
(author)
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Performance Metrics for Sustainability Value
- 2016
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Licentiate thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The trend that started with Green Building has moved on into Sustainable Building. But how do we know that something is really sustainable? This project started out with the intention to find a small set of performance indicators for commercial buildings, which could be continuously measured and monitored over time, which would give a good indication of the level of sustainability of the building and as such, and be presented as an additional part in a valuation. Since it has been shown several times over by now that properties that can prove they are sustainable generate a higher market price, these performance indicators would be interesting from the perspective of a valuation professional. In order to find these parameters, the project began with three of the international environmental certification systems and one Swedish system, to study which parameters are considered important in these systems. Following that study, surveys and interviews within the real estate business in Sweden provided an insight into how performance is measured today. Lastly, by combining those studies with a review of the sustainability information considered important by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) from a valuation professional’s point of view and an updated literature review, a simple set of indicators could indeed be identified. There is however, still a problem with defining their actual impact on market price. Other authors have come to the conclusion that although sustainability can be measured to some extent, incorporating that information into valuation of the property in a statistical secure way is not yet possible. We need to increase our knowledge about the performance of our built environment and the presented key performance indicators in this thesis would help us do just that. We can also see that real estate owners in many cases already gather much information about their buildings, but they lack the incentives to share that data with others.
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| 3. |
- Candel, Melissa, 1994-
(author)
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Co-Developing Sustainability Requirements : Exploring client and municipal perspectives in housing development
- 2020
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Licentiate thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Construction has major environmental, social and economic impacts. Improving sustainability both during and after the construction process is widely discussed among a slew of practitioners, governments and researchers. Construction clients, such as housing developers, are considered key actors for change and innovation because of their position to set requirements when procuring construction projects. The process of developing project requirements has therefore mainly been studied during the construction clients’ procurement process. At the same time, municipalities use their position as land owners to drive sustainable development. Land allocation agreements allow municipalities to set project-specific sustainability requirements for construction projects on municipal land. The purpose of this thesis is to explore how municipal sustainability requirements affect housing developers when planning and designing their projects.The research is based on a single empirical case study of an urban development programme comprising multiple parallel and sequential housing construction projects. In this study, the municipality’s and housing developers’ perspectives are explored. The results demonstrate that the housing developers perceive several barriers to implementing municipal sustainability requirements. The three main barriers that were identified are reduced flexibility coupled with uncertainty, conflicting interests coupled with reduced autonomy and interdependencies, and a lack of trust and transparency coupled with interdependencies. The municipal sustainability requirements are initially developed by the municipality for the land allocation agreement. They are then co-developed further by the municipality and the housing developers together through negotiations before being finalised in conjunction with the developers’ procurement process.The study is focused on the period following the housing developers’ signing of land allocation agreements with the municipality and before starting their procurement process. During this period, the housing developers attempt to negotiate municipal sustainability requirements that they anticipate will increase costs, risk and uncertainty and decrease the value of their final product. Negotiations between the housing developers and the municipality can be viewed as value co-creation processes stimulated by functional conflict. These findings build on three papers that are included in the thesis.Contributions are made to literature on the role of construction clients and their perceived barriers to implementing and developing sustainable construction solutions and practices and barriers to change in general. Theoretical contributions are also made to literature on value co-creation in construction by illustrating how clients engage in the co-creation of value with municipalities and other clients. Finally, the theoretical link between value co-creation and functional conflict is studied and developed.
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| 4. |
- Warsame, Abukar
(author)
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Performance of Construction Projects : Essays on Supplier Structure, Construction Costs and Quality Improvement
- 2011
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The performance of the construction industry and its contribution to the welfare of society in comparison to other industries such as the manufacturing industry has lately been the focus of many commissioned reports and academic research publications. The so-called “iron triangle” of time, cost and quality have been the most important metrics of construction project performance, especially for the selection of appropriate procurement methods. The perceived inefficiencies emanate from, among other things, increasing construction costs, conflicts and client dissatisfaction, the fragmented nature of the industry, low competition, cost overruns and delays, and lack of quality improvement. There is observed disparity in increases in housing construction costs and an apparent lack of quality improvement of infrastructure transport projects. In Sweden, metropolitan regions experienced higher construction cost increases, while small regions showed less costs increases during economic booms. In order to address these perceived inefficiencies, numerous strategic and project level decisions that influenced the way that publicly owned properties and projects are procured, constructed, operated, and maintained have been made. The decision to transfer quality-related activities and quality assurance responsibilities from client to contractor approximately 25 years ago is one of the decisions that could have an impact on current quality of infrastructure transport projects. The disparity in increases in construction costs and quality improvement concerns could not only influence the performance of construction projects, but also can affect the way different actors in the sector interact with each other and achieve their divergent objectives.The aim of this study is twofold. First, it tries to explain the observed disparity increases in construction costs between big (metropolitan) and medium/small regions. Second, it attempts to ascertain the extent of quality problems in infrastructure transport projects after the transfer of quality assurance responsibilities, and suggests measures that could improve the quality of infrastructure transport projects. Surveys and interviews were used as a means to collect data concerning both supplier structure in relation to housing construction costs and quality of construction projects. Other empirical data from a secondary source were also used.The first part of the research offers an understanding of the behavior of contractors in specific economic situations, specifically by taking into consideration the long-run relationship between contractors and owners/developers. It ascertains that if contractors/subcontractors display opportunistic behavior during the economic boom, the result will be increased higher construction costs. We utilized transaction cost theory in exploring construction sector structures in an attempt to understand changes in the sector from an efficiency perspective. The analysis can also enrich the current understanding of the governance structure of Swedish construction firms and how they could influence construction costs.As the response from the survey suggests, quality of infrastructure projects has not decreased after the transfer of quality assurance from client to contractor. However, the high number of respondents that indicated quality is the same as before the transfer raises a concern of lack of quality improvement. Respondents have overwhelmingly indicated that the lack of public client competence was one of the contributing factors of quality problems. It is argued that with client competence it is important to build-up through proper knowledge management, incentive systems, and training. Further, the retention of new skilled and experienced workers is an essential element for continuous quality improvement goals and objectives. A second opinion practice from independent experts and committees that focuses on the quality aspect of the projects can be introduced in the provision of infrastructure transport projects. Finally, it is argued that without client competence and a company culture that creates the right incentives, no procurement method can guarantee high quality.
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