A feasibility study of developing a retirement community project in Thailand

Abstract

Population aging was a global concern as many countries, including Thailand, had already become the aged society. However, most of the real estate developers were still focusing on conventional residential projects which were not suitable for elderly due to lack of facilities and services. Currently, the majority of Thai elderly had to choose between living under family support or moving into public-operated retirement community, in which their living condition could hardly be ensured. This study aimed to explore the possibility of private sector real estate developers to engage in the retirement project by determining the financial feasibility of a private-operated retirement project using cost benefit analysis. Market survey and semi-structured interviews were conducted prior to the analysis, and we found that under the current market demand, a retirement project could generate a positive net present value, however the return on investment was lower than conventional real estate project. Hence, financial support from the public sector might be needed in order to better motivate the private developers to engage in the retirement projects.