New Home Construction with Smart Home technology
While the market for smart home technology in real estate will be limited this year, IHS Markit forecasts this segment will grow. “We could see an upward revision to the CAGR forecast for builders because this channel is a great way to overcome technology education gaps and stress related to DIY projects for the consumer,” Blake Kozak, principal analyst for smart home and security technology at IHS Markit. Kozak says many consumers don’t understand that by turning off the light switch, the connected bulbs lose connectivity. Another benefit to having a builder install smart home is that a display will likely be installed in the home rather than relying on a mobile app. New home builds are more likely to see smart home inclusion because current smart home technology makes it difficult to transition accounts. “For example, a new homeowner would need to find and add all connected to devices to their smart home user account and remove all devices from the previous homeowners’ account,” Kozak says. “Overall, smart home will likely have a bigger impact on new construction and apartments compared with impacting the sale of existing homes (at least for middle-class homes) over the next 2-3 years.”