A decision support system for income-producing real estate development feasibility analysis and alternative assessment

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to design, develop, and evaluate a prototype scenarioassisted decision support system (DSS) for use in venture and alternative assessment during the predevelopment stage of income-producing real estate development. This research examines theoretical underpinnings and associated advancements related to income-producing real estate development and decision support systems. Particular emphasis was placed on synthesis of relating disciplines?? models and advancements that support design and development of the decision support system. The result of the system design and development are embodied in a prototype scenario-assisted decision support system for income-producing real estate development (DSSVenture). The design and development of the program are documented in this dissertation. Following the design and development stage, the validation of DSSVenture??s data and logic models was conducted based on two case studies from well-known real estate development publications. The system was then tested on a group of graduate students who enrolled in an advanced real estate development course at Texas A&M University to examine whether its facilitation objective had been achieved. Since this research hypothesized that the decision support system would facilitate developers?? decision making during predevelopment stage of income-producing real estate development, three operational variables were tested, namely number of alternatives examined, time to reach decisions, and coefficient of projected net present value variations. The testing results indicate that DSSVenture system significantly enhances comprehensiveness of the decision context by increasing the number of alternatives for developers. Since the use of the system significantly reduces developers?? time to reach decisions, the efficiency of decision making is improved. Finally, the results of the study confirm that the use of DSSVenture system substantially diminishes variation of profit projection among decision makers. Therefore, the facilitation objective is achieved.