Ground source heat pump systems are becoming more and more popular, even though their high initial cost is an obstacle to their wider penetration of the heating and cooling market. The purchase of the heat pump itself is one of the dominant costs, and the heat pump selection also influences the operation costs through its coefficient of performance (COP) value. However, few studies are available on this topic. Based on 23 water-water heat pump models available on the market, a correlation was developed to estimate their purchase cost as a function of the nominal cooling load of the heat pump. These heat pumps can be used in geothermal applications as well as in other heating, ventilating, air conditioning and refrigeration (HVAC&R) systems. The correlation is valid for a nominal cooling load between 20 and 841kW. The nominal COP of the heat pumps was found to have virtually no effect on their purchase costs. Also, two correlations were developed to relate variations of cooling power and COP to the temperature levels on both sides of the heat pump. The heating mode is also considered. The correlations are useful to estimate the required nominal size of a heat pump given design operating conditions and to optimize ground source heat pump systems from a techno-economical standpoint. Copyright (c) 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.