Problem background/problem discussion: Today there is a housing shortage in most of Sweden's municipalities. The municipalities have a high responsibility in this matter through their planning monopoly and the detailed plans. A lot of housing has been built in Sweden, but not for everyone. The financial situation affects the industry, especially when construction prices have risen. At the same time, we can see that the construction and real estate industry is one of the industries that affects the climate the most, in a negative sense. The industry's decisions affect society at large in many ways, and therefore they need to be as well-founded as possible. The previous research that we discovered on the subject does not include the particular research area that we have investigated. 

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore which factors are decisive when real estate companies make decisions about new production of rental properties. In particular, this must be investigated with regard to sustainability and the housing situation that exists in Sweden.

Method: An inductive research approach has been adopted. Furthermore, a qualitative study with elements of grounded theory has been carried out using semi-structured interviews of managers at real estate companies in Sweden. The purpose of semi-structured interviews was to have as open and informative dialogues with the respondents as possible.

Conclusion: The conclusions drawn after this investigation are that real estate companies base their decisions on primarily four different factors; targets, market, economy and location. CSR is something that the majority of companies work actively with. The housing situation in Sweden also affects their decisions, but there are many parameters that limit their ability to influence the situation.