It may come as no surprise that smart homes are the future with worldwide household penetration predicted to reach 28.8% by 2027 up from 14.2% in 2022, according to Statista.
But where in the world is already embracing smart home properties and smart devices the most?
To answer this, Compare The Market has created an index by analysing worldwide property listings and relevant smart home search terms.
Smart homes refer to any technology that can be controlled through a smartphone or computer – think heating, lighting, and security cameras.
Below are the top 25 countries according to the research
Taking the top spot is Türkiye with a total index score of 2.582 largely thanks to having the highest percentage of smart homes out of the top 10 at one in every 20 homes (5.17%).
Not far behind with a score of 2.368 is Hungary, which narrowly missed out on having the largest percentage of smart homes at 5.09%, with one in 10 listings (10.69%) being pre-fitted with alarms.
Coming in third is South Africa, where there may not be the largest number of smart homes, but the country does have the highest percentage of automated homes (4.49%), which is just a similar term for smart homes; and Australia scoring highly for security listings at 71,779, which equates to just over 40%.
However, alongside South Africa, the term “automated homes” is more common in Zimbabwe, and Belgium, which scored 3.7% and 3.45% respectively.
Rounding out the top five is Belgium in fourth, where automated homes are also popular (3.45%), followed by Australia in fifth place, with a whopping 40.04% of security listings.
However, despite these countries having a high proportion of automated properties, it’s Belgium, Ireland, and South Africa that have the highest percentage of properties with alarms; and Türkiye, Egypt, and Hungary lead the way with properties that have cameras.
Commenting on the research, Adrian Taylor, Compare the Market’s General Manager of General Insurance says: “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 more and more.
“Smart home security and cameras can also be useful if you ever need to make a claim on your home and contents insurance policy for theft or damage to your property. Some insurers may also offer a discount if you have certain features, such as external alarms or biometric locks, so we recommend comparing your options to search for a policy that suits your personal circumstances.”
Switzerland is amongst the countries with the fewest number of smart homes
If we look at the other end of the spectrum, then the Cayman Islands has scored the lowest, with an index score of 0.051, with no homes listed as smart or automated. Only three of their properties were listed as having security (4.5%), and there were no listings that had an alarm or camera.
Cape Verde (0.101), Switzerland (0.134), Brazil (0.142), and Gibraltar (0.177) complete the bottom five.
Fiji was the only country on our list to not have any property listings with security features, whereas the Netherlands and Austria only had one each. There were also 13 countries that didn’t have any properties with alarms – although quite a few of these were island countries, including Fiji, the Cayman Islands, and Cape Verde.
Camera listings are even less popular, with 26 countries not having any, including Zimbabwe, Mexico, and Brazil.
Taylor states: “Being able to automate your home and having interconnectivity is something homeowners are really beginning to prioritise more and more, because not only can it increase the value of your home, but it can make your life easier too.
“Now, not only do you have the ability to control the temperature of your home whilst you’re out and about, but you can do everything from recording your favourite TV series, to seeing if there’s anyone standing outside your front door.
“As well as this, things such as smart home security and cameras can be useful if you ever need to make a claim on your home and contents insurance policy for theft or damage to your property. Some insurers may also offer a discount if you have certain features, such as external alarms or biometric locks.
“We recommend that you check the product Disclosure Statement of a policy before purchasing, so that you are aware of any exclusions, restrictions and limits, but also to help you understand exactly what your policy covers you for.”
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