Rise of the Smart Home

For Raffi Kajberouni, the keys to his Santa Clarita,

Calif., home have become relics.

If he locks himself out, no problem. If a friend arrives

at his two-story house before him, there’s no waiting

outside for Kajberouni to arrive. Kajberouni taps his

smartphone and his front door unlocks.

He can also turn down the thermostat or view his

home security cameras from anywhere in the world.

“A lot of my friends are jealous,” the 31-year-old said.

“It’s like the home fromBack to the Future, but in real life.”

From complete smart home systems to individual

Internet-connected products such as high-tech appliances

and power strips, the smart home is no longer a futuristic

gimmick.

The technology behind smart gadgets — items that

can be controlled remotely or perform tasks on their own

— has been around for decades, but until recently the

devices were rudimentary and, above all, expensive.

“It had always been an upscale-type business: Unless

you were in the top 5 percent of income levels, you didn’t

have access to this type of connectivity,” said Randy

Light, merchant of home automation for Home Depot.

Wireless Internet and the widespread proliferation of

smartphones are making smart home technologies more

sophisticated — and affordable.

“This used to be something out of The Jetsons or

limited to the super-rich,” said Jonathan Dorsheimer, an

analyst at Canaccord Genuity. But as smart home

technology has improved and costs have come down, “it’s

becoming more mainstream.”

Analysts estimate that only a small single-digit

percentage of homeowners have smart homes.

But the home automation systems and services

market is expected to see enormous growth in the coming

years and is forecast to reach $14.7 billion in revenue

globally by 2017, up from $3.6 billion last year, according

to NextMarket Insights.

These days, a wide swath of companies are clamoring

to sell smart systems, including home security firms,

telecommunications giants such as AT&T and Verizon,

cable providers and utilities.

That’s expected to help “propel the market from its

fairly modest size today to one which serves more than 35

million households by 2017,” NextMarket said in its recent

report.

The housing recovery could also fuel growth if owners

choose to pull out their rising equity to give their homes

high-tech upgrades.

And as Americans purchase more newly built homes,

they may increasingly find those digs fully integrated with

their phones. Some of the nation’s largest home builders

now market tech-equipped houses’ advantages over older

homes.

Although new homes are usually more expensive,

builders have emphasized the long-term cost savings

owners can reap through solar panels and the ability to

monitor and change their energy usage with smart

devices.

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