Commercial vacancy rate reaches highest level at 14.5%

The national commercial vacancy rate has reached its highest level on record at 14.5%, according to the latest GeoDirectory Commercial Buildings Report.

The report, prepared by EY, shows the rate rose by 0.2 percentage points to 14.5% in the last quarter of 2024, which is the highest level recorded by GeoDirectory since it began tracking data in 2013.

There were 30,635 vacant commercial units across the country in December last year.

Sligo recorded the highest commercial vacancy rate at 20.6%, followed by Donegal at 20.1% and Galway at 18.8%.

Meath, Wexford and Kerry had the lowest rates at 9.9%, 10.8% and 12.3% respectively.

Dublin’s commercial vacancy rate stood at 13.6%, which is an increase of 0.5 percentage points on Q4 2023 and the highest level recorded in Dublin since Q4 2016.

Seven counties saw a decline in vacancy rates while 15 counties saw an increase.

Even though all four provinces experienced an increase in vacancy rates, four of the top six counties with the highest vacancy rates were in Connacht, which saw its vacancy rate reach 18.5%.

The report examined a sample of 80 towns throughout Ireland, as well as 22 districts in Dublin.

Ballybofey in Co Donegal was the town with the highest commercial vacancy rate at 36.4%, followed by Shannon in Co Clare at 30.8%.

Edgeworthstown in Co Longford, Boyle in Co Roscommon and Sligo town round out the top five at 28.3%, 27.7% and 26.8% respectively.

In contrast, the lowest commercial vacancy rates in the country were recorded in Greystones, Co Wicklow at 5.5% and Carrigaline, Co Cork at 5.1%.

Dublin 2 had the highest vacancy rate of all Dublin districts at 18.7%, which is 4.2 percentage points higher than the national vacancy rate.

Dublin 13 saw the largest increase in vacancy rate, growing by 2.2 percentage points when compared to Q4 2023.

The Dublin postcode with the lowest vacancy rate was Dublin 15, at 6.6%.

Four out of the 22 Dublin districts recorded a decrease in vacancy rates, with the largest falls in Dublin 24 and Dublin 6, both seeing a decrease of 0.3 percentage points. Of the 22 Dublin districts, 18 had vacancy rates below the national vacancy rate of 14.5%.

The Director at EY Economic Advisory, Annette Hughes, said that while residential vacancy continues to decline, commercial vacancy trends are going “in the opposite direction”.

“At 14.5%, the rate now sits 1% higher than before the Covid pandemic, representing an increase of over 2,100 commercial units and comes despite a strong economy, growing population and record employment,” she said.

“There are likely many factors at play here including, changes triggered by the pandemic, evolving shopping preferences and continued cost pressures on businesses and households.”