According to a study by the International Exhibition of Electrical and Electronic Equipment, Ifema (Matelec), the “home automation technologies” sector will increase its turnover to between 300 and 400 million euros during the next two years, an increase of more than 50%.
By 2010, 30% of all new residential properties will be fitted with “advanced home automation technologies”, as the current crisis in the housing market has led to increased competition between developers, which in turn has forced builders to come up with “new sales formulae to offer greater added value”, according to the study.
The head of the Technical Committee at the Spanish Home Automation Association (Cedom), Marisol Fernández, observes in the study that this situation is “generating opportunities” for the development of the home automation sector that will lead to an “increase” in the number of more advanced systems included in homes as a competitive strategy within the real estate industry. According to Fernández, home automation gives residential properties a “differentiated value” which “provides the possibility of offering a product with new and better qualities” and which developers can use to “reduce the time required to market their properties”.
The data contained in the Matelec report indicates that of the 600,000 homes built each year, between 15 and 20 per cent are fitted with home automation technology, a total of around 20,000 properties.
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