High-Tech Housing in Cities: Skylines

High-tech housing is a policy in Cities: Skylines that turns residences into “smart homes” that supposedly boost land value. This policy comes at a cost of ₡4 per building, and can be applied either city-wide or to specific districts. It’s a costly policy, but certainly not necessary in most cases.

Here’s how to implement it, and some situations in which it might be beneficial.

Method 1: As a City-Wide Policy

To enact high-tech housing all across your city, simply bring up the Policies panel, and click on the City Planning tab.

You should see “High-Tech Housing” in the list of policies. If you enable it from this menu then it’ll be applied to your whole city.

Tick the High-tech housing checkbox in the City Planning tab.

Method 2: As A District Policy

If you don’t have an existing district, create one using the Paint District tool from the Districts and Areas menu.

Create a district using the Paint District tool.

Then click on the district name on the map to bring up its info panel. Click on the Policies button on that panel.

Click on the city name, and click Policies on the pop-up panel.

There you’ll be able to see the policies you can enact on that specific district, including high-tech housing.

Check high-tech housing on the list to enable it in that district only.

What Happens When You Implement The High-Tech Housing Policy?

Upon activating this policy (whether city-wide or in specific districts), you should start seeing residences being rebuilt into smart homes.

You should also see an increase in the land value.

There are no exact details about how much of a land value boost they provide, but in many cases, it will be enough to make that building upgrade to the next level (especially if it was already partway there).

When Is This Worth It?

At ₡4 a building, this is a fairly expensive policy to run.

So in most cases there is no real need to use it. It’s not very hard to upgrade your houses to the highest level (5) by simply providing your citizens access to the services, education, and leisure that they want.

Here are a few scenarios in which it might be justifiable.

1. When buildings won’t upgrade because of nearby noise or pollution

Occasionally you’ll find some buildings unable to move up to level 5 even though there’s plenty of access to city services, education, and leisure. Often this is because there’s a noisy or polluting building nearby.

Putting those residences in a district and applying high-tech housing to it might give just enough of a push to make them upgrade.

A nearby Mall of Moderation had been lowering the land value slightly and preventing these houses from upgrading, but the high-tech housing policy did the trick.

2. When you’re short on space

If you’re playing on a map with a low percentage of buildable land, you might eventually find yourself running out of space.

High-tech housing can give you the land value you need that you would otherwise get from building parks and other attractions, and use that space for zoning more homes instead.

3. If you just like the look

Lastly—practical considerations aside—you could just go for high-tech housing if you like the look of the smart homes!

A neighborhood of all high-tech housing.

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Liz Villegas

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Liz is a writer and photographer with a love for building and strategy games. Her spare time is often split between lifting, reading, drawing, annoying her dog Mr. Porky Butt, and squinting at stat tables on the wiki pages of whatever game she's currently playing.

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