An Optimization Model for the Maximized Profit of Housing Development Project: A Case Study of Bangkok and Perimeter, Thailand

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The research aims to determine the maximized profit of a housing development project in Bangkok and surrounding areas in Thailand, by using multiple linear regression analysis to identify the profit equation based on land and building costs. The results are then applied to an optimization model to determine the number of houses of each type that should be constructed to achieve the maximum profit. While the study may be of interest to certain user groups, the recommendations provided in the research should be more clearly addressed to ensure they are applicable and relevant for future housing development projects. 

 

1. In abstract, "………only by using multiple linear regression analysis 13 technique to find the profit equation of the housing development project. Please justify using multiple linear regression if you have other ML techniques. The abstract appears like the story; the abstract must be structured and concise in the order of Introduction/background, Purpose, Method, Finding/results, and Conclusion/implication. The authors may refer following articles to have a glance at the abstract. You may refer to the following article.

 

Baldominos, A., Blanco, I., Moreno, A.J., Iturrarte, R., Bernárdez, Ó. and Afonso, C., 2018. Identifying real estate opportunities using machine learning. Applied sciences, 8(11), p.2321.

 

 

1. The study's motivation and objective must be clarified in the abstract and introduction. I suggest introducing a paragraph to explain the motivation in the introduction and adding the objectives (3 to 5) in bullets in the last part of the paragraph. 
2. In the section "2.2 Multiple Linear Regression Analysis", the authors explain the basic description of regression analysis. I did not see the novelty of the work. Why did you use simple Linear multiple regression? Why not Polynomial multiple regression, Stepwise multiple regression, Ridge regression, Lasso regression, Elastic net regression, Logistic regression, or Poisson regression? Could the author justify what improvements have done in the proposed model? What is the contribution of the proposed work or merely the application of a dataset using an ML model?
3. I did not see the comparison of the proposed model with the benchmark model. Please add.
4. Add a few similar works between 2018 to 2023. 
5. To improve the paper's overall academic writing style, revising and enhancing the language used throughout the document is necessary.
6. Improve the conclusion section of a research article by summarizing the study's main findings and providing insights into their implications and significance. It should also include recommendations for future research and end with a closing statement reiterating the research's significance.

Author Response

"Please see the attachment."

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Thank you for the opportunity to review the paper, “An Optimization Model for the Maximized profit of Housing Development Project; A Case study of Bangkok and Perimeter, Thailand," for Applied Sciences.

The manuscript uses multiple linear regression model to find the main determinants of profitability of housing projects and then uses this information to optimize the profitability of housing projects in several locales of Thailand.

The paper is exploring an interesting question, but in current state the study and methodology are at a preliminary stage.

 

Clarify the contribution of the paper: The authors should clearly state the contribution of their paper, and why they chose to use a regression model to analyze the profitability of housing projects. Additionally, they should justify why they chose to study Bangkok and Perimeter, Thailand and whether the findings can be generalized to other locations.

 

Methodology: The authors should address questions related to the representability of the empirical study and clarify how they ensure that their findings are generalizable to other housing projects. The choice of variables should be grounded in theory.

 Abstract: The abstract should be concise and differentiate between the contribution of the study and the existing knowledge. The problem to be addressed, the purpose of the research, and a summary of the findings should be clearly stated.

 Introduction: The introduction should describe the problem to be addressed, why it is important, and the corresponding purpose of the research. It should be aligned with the research findings, theoretical, and empirical existing literature on economics of housing projects.

 Develop hypothesis based on literature and theory: The authors should develop hypotheses based on the existing literature and theory. They should avoid trivial hypotheses that do not add value to the study.

Summary statistics: The manuscript should include summary statistics for important variables and explain how they compare to the existing literature.

Discussion: The discussion section should provide an economic justification of the results and explain the findings in light of similar papers on the topic. The authors should contextualize their findings in the literature and explain the added value of their study towards that literature.

 Figures and tables: Figures and tables should be self-contained so that readers can understand them without having to refer back to the text.

References: In text references should follow APA or MLA syle. 

Language: The language needs substantial improvement, and the authors should consider hiring a professional English editor to improve the readability of the paper. I had hard time understanding the paper because of the language. The language and readability of the paper can be improved by careful English editing.

Example: Page 1

“Moreover, according to the project's profitability depends on two main factors: land cost and house building cost. Then, in the next step, the results obtained from multiple linear regression analysis were applied with the  optimization model to find out the maximized profit of project, which is derived from determining the number of houses of each type to be constructed.”

Page 1

“As a project owner, it is necessary to manage the housing development project for maximizing profit as well as setting the number of construction of houses in each style, especially in the big projects that require tons of capital in terms of construction costs, land costs, or other costs.”

 Overall, the manuscript has potential, but the authors should address the above concerns to make it more impactful and insightful.

Author Response

"Please see the attachment."

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

The authors significantly improved the manuscript except for the comment below:

I suggest introducing a paragraph to explain the motivation in the introduction and adding the objectives (3 to 5) in bullets in the last part of the paragraph. 

Author Response

"Please see the attachment."

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Thank you for making the revisions. The paper now appears significantly more robust.

 I recommend providing a detailed explanation of the model in written form.

 

 Furthermore, it is advisable to appropriately annotate the figures and tables to make them comprehensible to the reader. Here are a couple of examples:

 

 For Table 1, instead of saying "The data collection of the housing development project located in Bangkok and perimeter," it may be more appropriate to say "Table 1. Summary statistics of the housing development project situated in Bangkok and the surrounding area."

 

 Regarding Figure 4, rather than stating "The Accuracy of prediction equation for profit/type," it may be preferable to say "Figure 4. A graph comparing the predicted Profit/type values from the regression models with the actual Profit/type values."

 

 I wish you the best for the next stage!

 

Author Response

"Please see the attachment."

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf