Massive increase in homes with installed air conditioning compared to 2019

The Netherlands has more and more countries with air conditioning installed in it. Since 2019, the number of homes with Airco has increased sixfold, according to price comparison site Independer, based on data provided by Statistics Netherlands (CBS).

Independer counted over 1.3 million homes with air conditioning in 2023. This number was at over 231,000 in 2019. The number of homes with installed airconditioning grew especially hard in 2020 when many Dutch people were stuck at home due to the coronavirus pandemic. More than 200,000 new aircos were installed within a few years after this.

"The trend toward Airco's is not completely surprising, especially due to the high gas prices of the last few years," said energy expert Joris Kerkhof of Independer. "Airco's are flexible to use for cooling down in the summer and heating up in the winter. They are also reasonably cheap to use. "Certainly, as a heating system, air conditioners can be an interesting alternative to gas heating."

Independer looked at CBS's air conditioning numbers on the last day of every year for the research. The site compared this with the total number of homes that year.

The data provided by CBS showed significant differences between rental and purchase properties. Less than five percent of the rental properties have installed air conditioning. The number increases significantly when it comes to purchased properties. Around 18 percent of this group have installed air conditioning.

It also varies per province. Limburg is the leader with most homes with installed airco. Almost three in ten homes have air conditioning installed in the province.

In Groningen and Flevoland, only seven percent of homes have installed air conditioning. In Noord-Brabant, it is around 17 percent with air conditioning.