The impact of public investments in facilities on the potential housing market for older persons

Abstract

PurposeThis paper aims to analyse the impact of public investments in facilities on the potential housing market for older persons by expanding the generally used approach of modelling working-age population to the approach of modelling the cohort of older population. Design/methodology/approachThe paper introduces an asymmetric approach and normalization to the special case of spatial interaction models, i.e. the Lowry-like model, to analyse significant factors that influence migration flows structured by age cohorts. The model uses publicly available and free databases at the mezzo level in a state. The analysis was performed for inter-municipal interactions of migrants structured by age cohorts. FindingsThe results show the different influences of Lowry’s main factors that influence the migration flows in industrial societies. The higher the average age of migrants, the lower the influences in the Lowry model. But, this is also valid for the impact of investments in public facilities and their management at the mezzo level on older migrants. Furthermore, institutional care facilities in a local community were proven to be an important factor to attract older persons. Research limitations/implicationsThe results show that there are other important factors that influence the migration flows of older persons. So, for better results, more structured data on investments and management of the facilities and other more subjective factors should be included in the model. Practical implicationsThe paper gives suggestions for further development of the models to analyse the potential housing market for older persons. Originality/valueIn addition to the suggested approach to study the impact of investments in facilities on the older population, this paper also identifies a need for more in-depth studies into this topic in the near future.