Artificial intelligence is now the fastest-growing buzzword in American real estate. Zillow’s 2027 Home Trends Report, published on November 10, 2026, found that mentions of AI in for-sale listings jumped 119% year over year — the largest increase of any feature the company tracked. The finding captures a housing market where smart technology has moved from a niche selling point to a mainstream expectation, even as buyers increasingly carve out space to escape from it.
Zillow based the report on an analysis of hundreds of home features across millions of for-sale listings, tracking how often sellers and agents highlight each one in listing descriptions. The numbers therefore measure what sellers choose to advertise, not a census of what is installed in American homes — but as a signal of what the market thinks buyers want, the shift is hard to miss.
AI leads the smartest year yet for listing language
The headline figure is the 119% rise in AI mentions, the biggest year-over-year jump in this year’s data. Sellers are increasingly featuring AI-powered appliances, which Zillow says promise to simplify daily chores — from refrigerators that track groceries to ovens and laundry machines that adjust themselves. The language of the listing has caught up with the hardware: a decade ago, a “smart home” in a listing usually meant a programmable thermostat or a video doorbell. In 2027’s listings, it increasingly means a home where AI does quiet work in the background.
App-controlled home systems are part of the same story. Mentions of systems that homeowners can manage from a phone app rose 34% year over year. That covers the familiar ground of smart lighting, locks, thermostats and security cameras, but also the newer wave of connected appliances and whole-home platforms that tie them together. For buyers, the practical takeaway is that app control is no longer a premium add-on to mention in passing — it is becoming a baseline expectation, and sellers know it.
Batteries and fresh air join the smart home pitch
The report’s energy numbers are just as striking. Mentions of whole-home batteries rose 43%, and fresh-air ventilation systems climbed 52%. Both point to a broader definition of the smart home: not just voice control and automation, but resilience and health. A battery that keeps the lights, refrigerator and Wi-Fi running through an outage is a smart home feature in the most literal sense, and sellers are treating it that way.
The trend lines up with what the industry has been shipping. Home battery systems have moved from early-adopter territory into mainstream product lines, with plug-and-play storage, dynamic tariff optimization and solar pairing becoming standard talking points. Fresh-air systems, meanwhile, ride the same wellness wave that has made air quality monitors and purifiers standard smart home gear. A home that manages its own energy and its own air is an easier sell than one that simply has a smart speaker in the kitchen.
The counter-trend: room to unplug
The most interesting part of the report is the tension inside it. While AI mentions soared, so did the opposite impulse. Mentions of spaces to unplug rose 34%, the same rate as app-controlled systems. “Digital detox is the new luxury,” said Amanda Pendleton, Zillow’s home trends expert. “Homes are getting smarter, but the people who live in them are craving space to unplug,” the report concludes.
That duality — more technology, plus more deliberately tech-free space — is the real story of the 2027 smart home. The ideal being sold is not a house full of gadgets; it is a house where technology works quietly in the background and disappears when it is not needed. A reading nook without screens, a garden room, a bedroom free of notifications: these are being marketed alongside the AI appliances, not instead of them.
For smart home owners, the message is reassuring. The features that hold their value are the ones that fade into the fabric of the house — automated lighting that follows a routine, a thermostat that learns a schedule, a battery that simply works during an outage — rather than the ones that demand attention. The listing data suggests buyers are already thinking that way.
What it means for buyers and sellers
For sellers, the report is a practical guide to listing language. Leading with AI features, app control and energy resilience matches what the market is already rewarding, and the numbers give agents a concrete reason to photograph the battery wall and mention the ventilation system rather than burying them in the fine print. The caveat matters, though: these are mentions in listings, not verified installations, and a feature named in a description is not proof of its quality or condition. Buyers should still ask what system is installed, how old it is and whether any subscription is required.
For buyers, the trend is a useful filter. A listing that leans on AI and app control is signaling a home whose systems are meant to be managed digitally — worth checking for compatibility with the platforms you already use, whether that is Apple Home, Google Home, Alexa or SmartThings. And a home that advertises both smart systems and unplugged spaces may be the most honest pitch of all: technology you can use, and quiet you can choose.
The outlook
Zillow’s report does not predict that every home will be an AI showcase by 2027. It shows something more grounded: sellers have decided that smart features sell, and they are naming them more often than ever. The 119% jump in AI mentions is the headline, but the fuller picture — app-controlled systems up 34%, batteries up 43%, fresh air up 52%, and tech-free spaces up 34% at the same time — describes a market settling on a balanced idea of the connected home. The smart home of 2027, at least as sellers describe it, is powerful, quiet and easy to switch off.