A new study from Barclays Mortgages indicates that new home buyers are willing to pay a premium for Smart Home features. The report indicates that more than a quarter of people surveyed stated that a property that included these tech upgrades would be more appealing.
Do buyers want a Smart Home?
Many of the features prospective home-buyers reported as most desirable aren’t “Smart-Home” features in and of themselves, but infrastructure improvements that facilitate setting up a connected-home. Improvements like hardwired USB ports, or fiber/cat6 wiring in the rooms expand the possibilities of what smart technologies will be available to the homeowner in the future.
Aside from the infrastructure improvements, passive smart home features are highly desired by prospective buyers. Buyers find smart thermostats and smart lighting as ways to reduce the costs of ownership, and are willing to pay more for them than technologies that are just convenient.
Interestingly, Smart Hubs for the home made the list, despite being relatively new compared to some of the other technologies. This is due in large part to the belief by over half of the homeowners surveyed that smart appliances will be common place in five years.
TV pundit Amanda Lamb says: “I see technology integrated in the home being a real incentive for homebuyers, so would encourage homeowners to start thinking about what they can do to future-proof their home.”
With “future-proofing” in mind, Amazon’s decision to partner with Samsung and their line of SmartThings appliances seems set to be the sort of partnership that could set the standard for the industry. Additionally, the Echo, with its low price-point, support for IFTTT and Samsung appliances, might just be the proverbial “leg-up” a current homeowner could use to set their home apart from the competition in a crowded market.
