Cost a challenge, but smart homes on a steady growth trajectory

Smart Homes market is steadily growing in India. Consumers have welcomed this transformation and demand for automation at their homes. According to a recent statista report, revenue in the Smart home market amounts to $870m in 2018 and the revenue is expected to show an annual growth rate (CAGR 2018-2022) of 59.0%, resulting in a market volume of $5,559m in 2022. The household penetration is at 0.8% in 2018 and is expected to hit 7.2% by 2022. In the wake of these positive numbers, I expect the overall industry to grow steadily in the future.

Or is this the global figure? Advancement in technology is increasing in leaps and bounds every day and we can feel its impact across industry segments. Real estate industry is no exception to this trend.  An emerging facet of real estate industry on the onset of technological advancement is the smart homes segment. Globally, this trend has become the new norm of the housing industry, however in India the segment is still at a nascent stage. The initial growth rate is expected to be upwards of 30% year-on-year in India, compared to the Western market as India has a leger potential for new homes. Consequently, I expect the growth numbers in this segment to be even faster in future. 

The smart home sector is a large and diverse sector with a variety of products available. One of the emerging spaces within this sector is devices backed by Internet of Things (IoT) and is currently a key component of home automation. With a large consumer base in India, many manufacturers are looking towards tailor made products for the market enabled with digital assistants. The products that are currently available in the market are Western in nature, which is expensive and are not relevant for the Indian consumer consumption. This paves ways for many manufacturers to offer affordable alternatives. Owing to the price factor, the Smart Homes market is limited to high end projects resulting in the smaller market size for home automation. However, this scenario is expected to transform with the change in consumer mindset.

For now, the most-sought after products and innovation are home automation, connected devices, security systems (including CCTV, fire response and fighting systems) and water management systems. Consumers are aware of these products and expect them to be integrated in their homes. But, complete automation of home is constrained to higher end projects due to the additional cost that comes with the process.

Yes, certainly. In this digital age, most of the homebuyers are aware of the smart home products available in the market and expect to enjoy these benefits while making a purchase. However, until now, these smart products seem to appear only in high end homes and cater to the luxury end of the market who buy these products. But, we at Navin’s Starwood Towers 2.0 are bringing some of these features standard in our mid-market offering and are opening them to a much wider audience.

Though all features of smart homes cannot be feasible for local developers to integrate in their projects, there is still a lot of scope in providing Safety, security and coolness to the home buyers. We at Navin’s provide some of these as standard offering, setting a new benchmark in specific apartments starting with our Starwood Towers 2.0 project in Vengaivasal, near Medavakkam. We would like to bring smart homes across segments, catering to a variety of home buyers. We want to make smart homes a norm and an affordable luxury across segments starting from our upcoming Starwood Towers project in Medvakkam. 

Technology calls for additional cost. When it comes to integrating them with home products and providing complete automation, not just for the homebuyers but even the builders have to invest more. However, some consumers want connected homes but are skeptical about paying a premium to avail its benefits. So cost is by far, the single biggest challenge faced by the industry to provide these products. But, we at Navin’s have managed to innovate and provide them in the mid segment housing market at an affordable cost.

Consumers are well-informed and aware of the digital technology role in realty sector. Connected homes are sought after for most of the urban families who understand the upsides of the smart offerings and consider them fashionable. With increased internet penetration, even in some parts of suburban and rural areas smart homes concept is picking up attention. While talking about cities, with a lot of tech savvy crowd and employees, the concept is no alien. Capitalising on this opportunity, our Navin’s Starwood Towers 2.0 is nested right in between Velachery, Sholinganallur and Tambaram markets that is home to some large IT / ITES and MNC offices and their employees are found to be tech savvy.