One Wicklow town has lowest commercial vacancy rate in Ireland

The latest GeoDirectory Commercial Buildings Report reveals that the commercial vacancy rate in County Wicklow remained unchanged at 12.9pc in December 2023, which was lower than the national average of 14.3pc.

The national average is the highest level of commercial vacancy recorded by GeoDirectory since it began tracking data in 2013.

In total, there were 30,046 empty commercial units across the country, with the commercial vacancy rate increasing in 20 out of 26 counties. Sligo, at 20.5pc, was the county with the highest commercial vacancy rate, followed by Galway (18.5pc) and Donegal (18.2pc).

Meath (10.1pc) remained as the county with the lowest commercial vacancy rate in the state, closely followed by Wexford (10.5pc) and Cork (12.2pc).

Greystones is the town with the lowest commercial vacancy rate in the country, at 5.6pc.

The services sector, including hospitality and tourism, had the largest share of commercial sites, accounting for 49.3pc of the overall total. The services sector also had the largest reduction in the number of commercial units, recording a decrease of 636 units, which accounted for 43.1pc of the total reduction in commercial properties.

Within the services sector, hospitality services had the highest number of commercial units, accounting for 22,379 units or 14.4pc of the total.

The retail and wholesale sector was the second-largest sector in terms of occupying commercial sites, making up 22.1pc (34,233 units) of the total NACE codes.

Commenting on the findings of the GeoDirectory Commercial Buildings Report, Dara Keogh, CEO of GeoDirectory, said, “The rate of commercial vacancies in Ireland has hit a new high of 14.3pc, continuing the trend of increasing rates in recent years.

“This trend can be attributed to a number of factors such as the rising cost of doing business, changing consumer habits and hybrid working. Consideration must now be given to how some of these vacant properties can be repurposed and reused, in order to avoid long-term vacancy and potential dereliction of these buildings.”

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