As people grow more familiar with the Internet of Things, smart home tech is set to proliferate. Yet while there’s a demand for certain specific devices, most people either don’t know how the tech works or are put off by high prices. So is the smart home revolution really around the corner?

How are people furnishing their homes? What do they want in a real estate agent? And is the future of utilities green? As part of our Expert Outlook 2017 series, we speak to three home experts about space-saving furniture, emotional investment, and why people will finally switch energy suppliers.

Voice recognition tech is becoming increasingly advanced, leading more people to use it in their everyday lives; the virtual assistant market is set to be worth $3.07 billion by 2020, and Amazon expects to sell ten million Echo devices in 2017 alone. But do people really want to chat to their devices?

With 60% of Americans using the voice-activated concierge service on their smartphone every day, people are growing accustomed to the idea of interacting with a virtual assistant. Tapping into the trend, Amazon has launched a smart speaker that acts like a home assistant.