A company is considering whether to purchase a piece of land that has come up for sale at a cost of $10 million. Two suggestions have been made for the use of the land. One is to construct a number of private houses for sale and the other is to construct an amusement park. The company’s management accountants have made the following estimates of both projects’ net cash flows (including the cost of the land):
Year
Private House
($ Million)
Amusement Park ($ Million)
0
-10
-10
1
-5
-8
2
+7
+4
3
+9
+6
4
+4
+8
5
+7
6
+9
The company uses NPV to evaluate projects and normally takes 10 % as a discount rate for the house-building investment and 18% as the discount rate for the amusement park. The IRR of the housing investment is 12.5% and the amusement part produces a return of 18.6%. Which is the better investment decision for the shareholders of the company? Show all calculations.