In Milton Keynes, half an hour from central London by train, the Sommar Place housing development has just gone on the market. Its special feature? The homes are smart, with accessories including locks, cameras and more. The development by Swedish company Trivselhus is elegantly designed and highly energy efficient - triple-glazed windows come as standard.
The smart home products are all chosen to be compatible with Apple's HomeKit platform.
Before you even open the wide front door (this is a Swedish design, so it opens outwards, unlike most British front doors) you spot a Netatmo Presence external security camera outside. It will spot you, too, and if you're not supposed to be there, it'll automatically alert the owner.
If you are the owner, then, if you choose, the solid and attractive Danalock on the front door lights up and the barrel starts whirring, unlocking it. You can also control this lock remotely, of course, if you want to let a delivery person in to the lobby (and keep an eye on them with the Netatmo).
And, of course, you can easily create an automated scene so that your arrival triggers certain actions, like turning the smart light switches on and putting the LIFX bulbs to your favorite evening ambient shade.
Netatmo radiator thermostatic valves also come as standard so these can start warming up the living room for you.
There's a lot of kit in these houses and it's all part of the purchase price. Wouldn't it be cheaper without this equipment, you ask? Well, yes, but not by much. The cost of all the wiring, socketry, smart gadgets, accessories, router, Apple kit and so on - all pre-installed before you arrive - is less than 1% of the cost of the house which, spread across a lengthy mortgage, is hard to notice.
Of course, you could buy all this stuff as you went along, but this way there's no fiddling with screwdrivers to install the light switches and sockets, for instance, which on their own can be enough to cower many a home improvement-focused resident. When you arrive and start unpacking your belongings, everything's there and has been tested.
No worries that the camera you bought isn’t HomeKit-compatible or that it'll be hard to set up.
Not everything comes as standard. The attractive show home I visited had two HomePods, but only one comes included. And smart window blinds are an optional extra, too. But the list of bundled items is pretty impressive, including a Netatmo smart Thermostat and radiator valves, LIFX smart light bulbs, Elgato Eve Motion detector and Door and Window sensors, Logitech Circle 2 Camera, Danalock, Lightwave sockets and light switches. There's more, but that gives you a clue that this is a pretty well-equipped smart home.
Two-bedroom apartments on the estate cost from $350,400 (£250,000) and the priciest building is a four-bedroom, three-storey house for $630,720 (£450,000).
If you're already heavily invested in smart home tech that's Alexa-compatible, this might not be the home for you, but otherwise it's a neat way to know that this is a smart house that's ready to go the second you move in.
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