The commercial vacancy rate in Galway had increased to 18% as of June according to the latest GeoDirectory Commercial Buildings Report.
This is the second highest rate in the country, nearly 4% higher than the national average, and represents an increase of 0.8% compared with a year previous.
The report, prepared by EY, found that the national commercial vacancy rate stood at 14.1% in June 2023.
Commercial vacancy rates increased in 20 out of 26 counties in the twelve months to June 2023, with a total of 29,798 vacant commercial units recorded across Ireland.
Commenting on the findings of the report, Dara Keogh, Chief Executive of GeoDirectory said that this is the highest commercial vacancy rate on record.
“Businesses are clearly still struggling with the increasing costs of doing business in regard to energy costs and food inflation.”
“An additional challenge this year has been interest rate increases which are generating some pressures for commercial owner occupiers and tenants.”
Annette Hughes, Director, EY Economic Advisory added, “After several years of strong construction activity in the commercial sector, the increases we are seeing in commercial vacancy are to an extent unsurprising”.
She said that trends working from home, along with other concerns like sustainability and energy efficiency are likely impacting on this issue.
“While there have been increases in the cost of doing business for some companies, the overall Irish economy remains in a good position, with further growth and increases in the numbers employed forecast.”
The analysis shows that there remains a wide disparity in vacancy rates across the country, a trend observed in previous GeoDirectory Commercial Buildings reports.
At 19.9%, Sligo was the county with the highest commercial vacancy rate, followed by Galway (18%), Donegal (17.9%), Mayo (17.3%) and Roscommon (16.9%).
The county with the lowest commercial vacancy rate was Meath at 10.2%, followed by Wexford at 10.6% and Kerry at 12.2%.
All four provinces in Ireland reported an increase in overall vacancy rates, with Connacht having the highest rate at 17.9%, which is 3.8% above the national average.
Connacht also recorded the highest increase of the four provinces in the 12 months to Q2 2023, rising by 0.5%.
