Reportagem sobre Valorização de Imóvel com Automação

Does home automation affect your property resale value?

The smart home market is growing fast, but we still don't know a lot about the real estate value of high-tech installations. Steve Freeth reports.

Even if he's still a little cautious about it all, Perth developer Francis Anthony believes technology is now the key to higher profit in the two or three homes he does each year.

"I first put in smart wiring and security two years ago, and although that cost was fairly low I was able to sell the house for $700,000 - a big jump for me," Francis says.

"For this next home, I'm adding multi-room audio as well and I believe it will sell for a lot more.

"I don't know a lot about technology, but I'd seen the project home companies offering it and knew that was where I had to go if I wanted to be at the higher end."

It's a similar story right across the country as developers and builders turn to all sorts of home intelligence to stand out in a competitive market and attract premium prices for their properties.

But just exactly how valuable is technology in the property equation and what effect is the smart home having on the real estate market overall? There is no end of anecdotal information about its worth but getting hard evidence is difficult.

Technology commentator Graeme Philipson of Connection Research says no one has done a definitive study on the size of the smart home market in Australia, and information on costs and returns is particularly scarce.

That could be about to change, as one of the best studies -and probably the world's first serious look at the whole property and technology issue - has been done in Australia, although it was overlooked at the time.

A 2000 report by Melbourne University's Department of Architecture, Building and Planning focused on a new estate that had standard houses and those with basic home automation and smart wiring. The study showed that not only were prospective buyers keen on home technology, they were also prepared to pay more for it.

"When we analysed the sales data it showed that the smarter homes had a marked premium over those without - in fact, up to a third more," says the study's lead author, Tony Petersen.

"The technology was obviously a drawcard for these buyers, but they also wanted it to be easy to use and practical."
Tony says the smart home market will become more mainstream only if companies can make a profit from it.

"We showed very clearly that they can."

Although smart technology is beginning to creep into mid-bracket homes, so far it has mainly found value in high-end real estate.

In the United States figures show that home installations tend to occur in the top 3-5% of households by income, and a 2006 Housing Industry Association snapshot in Australia showed that a Smart Wired® home was nearly twice as big as the average.

Lend Lease, one of the country's biggest property developers, is typical of the trend. Its smart home features, like C-Bus wiring and integrated home networks, are offered mostly in inner-city, high-price apartments.

Lend Lease Developments marketing director Warwick Bowd says the company does a lot of research with prospective buyers.

"They now see high-tech features as providing status and comfort, something that is particularly attractive to older people downsizing or young, high-earning professionals.

"People seem ready to pay extra for the technology add-ons, but it's really an evolving area for us and we still offer most of them as options."

That seems to be the message from the real estate industry as well, although opinions are mixed.

Despite the growing proliferation of property ads in urban and regional media referring to smart wiring, home automation or intelligent lighting, many agents, valuers and property editors say the trend is still uneven and top heavy.

David Howe of McGrath Estate Agents in Sydney says that in very expensive properties the customers just expect the home to be smart wired and to have a whole range of technology.

"High-tech infrastructure and electronic gadgets are being seen as part of the presentation for a home at this end of the market, and that can push the price up 5-10%."

Drew Sheldrick, senior real estate writer for Courier Newspapers in Sydney, says high-tech features are on the rise, but awareness of the eco-friendly home is a more noticeable trend.

"Home buyers and realtors seem very aware of energy issues ahead of technology at the moment."

One of the problems for consumers and the industry in general is that there is still no objective way of measuring what is a smart house and whether it adds increased value in terms of sales.

In the US, where the smart home market has been active for longer, there are moves to tackle some of these unknowns more directly.

The Consumer Electronics Association and the Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association have developed a TechHomeTM rating system in a bid to quantify the value of added technology. They suggest the rating system is gaining recognition by realtors and may soon be added to the Multiple Listing Service, an online resource providing a broad range of information on properties for sale.

Parks & Associates, a leading US connected-home research group, has also begun to ask questions about property value and technology costs.

Its 2005 survey of builders showed that margins on technology can vary widely - anywhere from 5% to 25%. However, builders showed much stronger support for structured cabling, which has a low cost, offers a margin of about 22% and allows the house to be sold at a premium.

Australian estimates indicate that technology - from basic Smart WiringTM for data, telephony and pay TV distribution to full-home automation - costs between 1% and 5% of the total cost of a home. More detailed research is needed on just what is added to the value of a home by technology infrastructure and electronic equipment.

"We know the smart home market is growing very fast here," Graeme says. "But there's still a lot we need to find out."