New research revealed that air source heat pumps have been installed in 4.53% of new homes since 2019, while ground source heat pumps (GSHP) are in just 0.39%.
Together they’re in 4.92% of all new builds in England and Wales, according to research by Confused.com. This means around 54,000 new homes are using these green options.
Between 2018 and 2023, the installation of air source and GSHPs in new homes across England and Wales has increased. Installation of air source heat pumps went from 2.68% in 2018 to 7.58% in 2023, a jump of 4.9% points. GSHPs rose from 0.21% to 0.47% in 2023, a change of 0.26 percentage points.
In King’s Lynn and West Norfolk, over half of new homes built between 2018 and 2023 heat pumps installed, followed by Ceredigion with 39.26% and Breckland with 38.58%. Whereas, some areas like Liverpool, 0.08%, Halton, 0.08%, and Sandwell, 0.04%, have very low adoption rates of air source heat pumps in newly built homes.
Some areas, like Pendle, 7.78%, Rhondda Cynon Taf, 6.65%, and Warrington, 4.77%, stand out with higher adoption rates of GSHPs in new builds. But most areas have lower rates with many below 1%, suggesting slower GSHPs uptake overall, especially compared to air source heat pumps.
The percentage of new builds installing air source heat pumps has increased across many areas over the last five years. Showing a growing trend towards sustainable heating solutions. Bromsgrove, Cotswold, Isle of Anglesey, and Pembrokeshire have all seen over a 40% increase in new builds being constructed with an air source heat pump.
In Pendle, the use of GSHPs in new buildings jumped from 0.95% to 28.52% over five years, showing more interest in this heating method. In Luton, no new builds had these pumps in 2018, but had increased to 87 in 2023.
All other areas in England and Wales saw less than a 10% point increase over five years, suggesting a much slower takeup of GSHP compared to air source heat pumps, researchers found.
Confused.com stated that heat pumps in homes are slowly getting more popular, but are still a long way off from being the most common heating source installed in new homes. Between air source and GSHPs, air source is leading the way, it noted. This is likely due to the space required to install it and the overall cost.