Recent heatwaves are driving up sales of private air conditioners. Currently, 23.4 percent of households in Germany own such a unit, newspapers from the Funke media group reported on Sunday, citing a representative survey commissioned by the comparison portal Verivox. A year ago, the figure stood at 17.9 percent.
According to the report, the increase in purchase intentions is even more pronounced. 24.9 percent of households are planning to buy an air conditioner, compared with 13.8 percent in July 2025. For 51.7 percent of households, however, a purchase remains out of the question.
"The exceptional heatwave of recent weeks has significantly boosted interest in air conditioners," Verivox energy expert Thorsten Storck told the Funke newspapers. "Many households have apparently no longer postponed their purchase decision; at times, mobile air conditioning units were sold out in many places."
According to the survey, mobile devices dominate the market. 69.2 percent use a so-called monobloc unit, in which warm air is vented outside through an exhaust hose. Permanently installed split systems account for a share of 30.8 percent. Split systems consist of an indoor and an outdoor unit.
The boom in air conditioners is also likely to drive up electricity consumption. According to Verivox, households should budget annual electricity costs of between 40 and 90 euros for a split system. For the cheaper-to-buy mobile monobloc units, annual electricity costs of 100 to 150 euros can be expected.
Storck emphasized that homes can be effectively protected from the heat even without an air conditioner. "External blinds or shutters offer the best protection, if you close them during the day, they keep the sun out," the expert said. Anyone without them could apply sun-protection film to their windows. Fans, he added, do not cool the air itself, but the air movement they create feels more pleasant.
For the representative survey, the market research institute Innofact interviewed 1,000 people aged 18 to 69 in July 2026 on behalf of Verivox.
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