One in three households worldwide is expected to have at least some "smart home" features by 2027 – twice the number there are currently. Fresh analysis shows that Belgium is a world leader when it comes to embracing smart home technology.
Smart home technology has exploded onto the scene over the last five years and is showing no sign of stopping: the number of households equipped with smart technology is expected to reach 672.6 million users globally by 2027, according to statistics platform Statista.
"As evidenced by the research, smart homes and their relevant devices are on the rise. Being able to automate your home and having interconnectivity is something homeowners are really beginning to prioritise," said Adrian Taylor, Compare the Market’s General Manager of General Insurance, in a press release.
The term "smart home" is used to refer to any technology that can be controlled through a smartphone or computer – such as heating, lighting, locks, and security cameras, in addition to a whole host of appliances.
Turkey leads the way
“Not only can you control the temperature of your home while you are out and about, but you can do everything from recording your favourite TV series to seeing if there is anyone standing outside your front door," Taylor enthused.
When it comes to making the technology part of homes, Turkey currently has the most smart applications integrated into its homes (one in 20 homes is considered "smart"). Hungary ranks second and narrowly missed out on having the largest percentage of smart homes (5.09% of homes).
In third place is Belgium, which performs particularly highly when it comes to alarms (17.24% have smart alarms). Rounding out the top five are Greece and then Ireland.
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The Netherlands and Switzerland have the fewest number of smart homes, ranking 19th and 20th respectively.
When looking at the worldwide ranking, however, Belgium is nudged into fourth place by South Africa. Australia also performs highly, moving to fifth place.
To create the ranking, researchers collaborated with real estate company Zoopla to compare listings.