Smart homes cover 6.3 million households in Australia, and the market size will reach US$4.4 billion

Recently, market research company Telsyte released an Australian smart home report. Data shows that by the end of 2021, nearly two-thirds ( 6.3 million ) of Australian households own at least one smart home product .

It is understood that since 2020 , many families have purchased smart home products due to increased time spent at home and increased awareness of products and services.

Sales of smart home products have also increased in 2021. According to Telsyte , sales of smart home products in 2021 were $1.7 billion, up 15% from the previous year, and are expected to grow to $4.4 billion by 2025.

The fastest-growing categories in 2021 include smart lighting (up 50%), installation services (up 40%), and smart speakers (up 28%). In addition, people are also very interested in smart cleaners such as vacuum cleaners.

Telsyte believes that smart speakers are a gateway to the Internet of Things because they are like electronic servants that can understand human language and perform tasks. Through them, various smart home products can be operated in a variety of ways, such as calling smart speakers to turn on lights. Telsyte estimates that as of 2021, about 2.9 million households will have smart speakers. In this field, Google and Amazon currently have the largest share.

It’s important to note that while smart homes continue to gain momentum, Telsyte says the industry still faces a number of hurdles.

In terms of price, although the prices of some products such as smart light bulbs, smart refrigerators, etc. are falling, the overall cost of smart home products and services may rise with inflation, chip shortages, and excessive demand.

In addition, lifestyle changes may affect the sales of some products. Consumers' shift from single-family homes to smaller apartment-style living may reduce the use of products such as smart gardening equipment and smart doorbells.

There is also the issue of privacy. Telsyte's managing director pointed out that although people's concerns about privacy issues in smart homes are decreasing, they are not gone. He said that 30% of people still reject any concept of smart homes.

Additionally, among those not yet interested in smart homes, concerns about complex installations have increased compared to a year ago, highlighting the lack of unified standards in the industry to date.

However, this barrier is expected to be broken in a short time. It is understood that the new industry standard "Matter" will be launched in June 2022, which aims to unify industry methods and allow devices across multiple platforms to communicate with each other.

Telsyte believes that simplifying the process and compatibility issues is crucial to increasing consumer adoption of smart homes, especially among those who haven’t yet fully invested in devices.

Smart Home

Australia