High-end refrigerators, washing machines and dryers are becoming more popular as energy efficiency transforms the market
The price of home electronics declines each year as technology advances keep making them better — with a few notable exceptions.
Kitchen and laundry room appliances, which are now loaded with electronics, have defied the trend over the last decade. While the average price of a laptop computer dropped 23 percent in just one year and big-screen television prices have been falling at the average rate of 30 percent a year, the average price of a dishwasher rose 10 percent in the last decade. Market analysts at the NPD Group calculate the average price of a washing machine went up 16 percent in the last two years.
Why? Certainly the big appliances are designed to do a lot more than those made a decade ago, but so are laptops and digital cameras. You might think it is the result of high demand during the recent remodeling boom, except that demand has been far stronger for televisions and digital cameras. And white goods are made with more electronics and most are manufactured overseas, which should be bringing prices down.
Read the full story at the Taipei Times
*This article is based on the US market*