The Light: Practical Smart Home Solutions
Consumer surveys from the New Home Trends Institute confirm what we are also observing in the field through market research. Here are three traits of smart home technology that resonate most strongly with consumers:
- Safety. Homeowners understand the value of smart home products that increase home security the best. Fifty-one percent of homeowners consider it the most important solution that smart tech can provide.
- Seamlessness. Homeowners strongly favor products that integrate throughout the whole home (e.g., air quality monitoring, internet connectivity) to automate processes over room-specific solutions.
- Functionality. Homeowners attribute more value to products that monitor and control the home from afar, versus those that create minor conveniences while in the home. Focus on products that work behind the scenes to make the home function better, rather than those that shave a few minutes off the homeowner’s day.
Homeowner preferences indicate eight smart tech products poised for high adoption (50%+ of homeowners)1:
- Water monitor sensors
- Smart ventilation
- Hands-free flush toilets
- Robotic vacuums
- Smart lighting
- Smart blinds
- Digital presets for showers
- Fall alerts
We expect Young Family homeowners (families with children under age 12) to adopt smart tech at the highest rates. They tend to actively seek out smart tech products while others simply come across them online when searching for home solutions. However, we anticipate rapid growth among all life stages once smart tech products are supported by improved solutions that address key data privacy concerns that have been holding other groups back from embracing them.
If you would like to receive a complimentary copy of the New Home Trends Institute’s member-exclusive Smart Home Technology report—featuring results from our survey of 1,230 homeowners who own at least one smart home product—please reach out to Mikaela Arroyo.
1 New Home Trends Institute by John Burns Real Estate Consulting, LLC March 2021 survey of 1,230 homeowners who own at least one smart home product.