Highs and lows of European AC sales in 2024
18th February 2025
UK: Latest research conducted by UK market research company BSRIA has exposed the volatility of the European air conditioning market in 2024.
While the overall regional sales posted some growth in 2024, reaching market value above $18bn, the good performance has not been equal across the countries and the segments, BSRIA says.
The water-based AC segment is said to have held up well, posting an annual growth rate of 5.6%, compared to a 1.4% increase in the packaged AC segment.
BSRIA observes that the European Green Deal and deployment of National Energy Plans have supported renovation projects boosting sales of chillers in 2024, but political debacles and economic hardships have taken toll in some countries curbing ambitions of private and public investors.
According to BSRIA, AC sales, particularly in the residential segment, are driven by replacement and refurbishment sectors, and factors like high inflation, high borrowing cost or uncertainly of employment impact consumer confidence. Many European countries have also seen a decrease in new construction activities, which translated in slowing sales, in both, residential and commercial segments.
Among the biggest European AC markets, Italy, Turkey, and Spain have seen positive market progression, but sales in France, Germany and UK were seen as disappointing in 2024. Meanwhile, the key Scandinavian markets of Sweden and Norway have also experienced significant decrease in sales.
The picture varied greatly in other European countries, where sales results spanned between double-digit decrease and double digit growth in comparison the previous year’s results.
The trend towards reversible systems has stayed upward, underpinned by the good results in the screw and scroll chillers growth.
Reciprocating heating and cooling chillers for comfort followed a positive development too, but volumes were marginal. Previously, the use of reciprocating compressors was limited to process applications, but latest development which allows for the use of hydrocarbon refrigerants made them suitable for comfort heat pump applications, for instance in Switzerland, Denmark and Norway.
For further information on European Air Conditioning country reports, contact BSRIA sales at wmisales@bsria.com.
