SmartRent eyes 1 million installed units as Vision 2028 lifts gross margins to 41%
The proptech sector has been navigating a cautious capital environment, with elevated borrowing costs weighing on multifamily property investment cycles across much of the industry. Against that backdrop, SmartRent is projecting…
Key takeaways
- SmartRent projects it will surpass 1 million installed units in the first half of next year.
- SmartRent's gross margin has reached 41%, which it attributes to its Vision 2028 strategy.
- Vision 2028 is SmartRent's medium-term operating framework, and the 41% gross margin is described as its most tangible result to date.
- The company frames the 1 million unit target as a near-term deliverable tied to a concrete window rather than a horizon-year aspiration.
- SmartRent's projected installed-base growth in a high-rate environment suggests underlying demand has been more durable than the broader capex cycle implied.
The proptech sector has been navigating a cautious capital environment, with elevated borrowing costs weighing on multifamily property investment cycles across much of the industry. Against that backdrop, SmartRent is projecting it will surpass 1 million installed units in the first half of next year. The company points to its Vision 2028 strategy as the driver of both that trajectory and a gross margin now at 41%.
What Vision 2028 has delivered
Vision 2028 is SmartRent's medium-term operating framework. The 41% gross margin figure is its most tangible result to date. In a hardware-adjacent proptech business, that number tells a specific story: costs are coming down as the installed base expands, and fixed overhead is spreading across a growing unit count. That is the pattern a platform business follows as it matures.
The 1 million unit target is pegged to a concrete window, the first half of next year. The company's framing treats this as a near-term deliverable rather than a directional goal, which gives the projection more weight than a horizon-year aspiration typically carries.
Rate cycle and the capex read-through
Smart-home adoption in multifamily housing tracks the property investment cycle. When central banks hold policy rates at restrictive levels, discretionary spending by property managers compresses. That SmartRent is projecting installed-base growth of this order in the current environment suggests underlying demand has proven more durable than the broader cycle might have implied.
Other proptech companies with exposure to multifamily upgrade programs will watch the installed-unit trajectory. On balance, the 41% gross margin is the more durable indicator here. Unit counts move with the capex cycle; margins, once earned, tend to hold. Whether the rate environment eases enough to accelerate the timeline is the macro caveat the first-half projection does not control. SmartRent anticipates crossing the 1 million mark; the policy cycle will shape how comfortably it does.