Commercial vacancy rates in Limerick revealed in latest survey
ONE LARGE Limerick town continues to top the charts in commercial vacancy rates throughout the county.
Out of 80 towns surveyed, Abbeyfeale had the highest commercial vacancy rate in the county in Q2 2022 at 22.1%, while Limerick City had the lowest at 19.1%.
Dara Keogh, Chief Executive of GeoDirectory said that the latest GeoDirectory Commercial Buildings Report highlights a marginal but continued rise in commercial vacancy rates across Ireland.
"At 13.9%, the national commercial vacancy rate in Q2 2022 was the highest recorded by GeoDirectory since we started compiling these reports in 2013," he stressed.
The report found that Ballybofey, Co. Donegal, remained the town with the highest commercial vacancy rate in Ireland at 30.2%, registering an increase of 0.9pp between Q2 2021 and Q2 2022.
There were 181,683 occupied commercial address points in Q2 2022, representing a decline of 1,225 on the corresponding figure in Q2 2021.
Of these, 86.7% were allocated a NACE code. The number of NACE code-classified commercial units declined by 2,520 between Q2 2021 and Q2 2022 with most of this decline found in the Retail and Wholesale sector, with 800 fewer units.
The broader sector of Services, which encompasses a range of economic activities, recorded a decline of 952 units.
The analysis also found that the Accommodation and Food Services sector accounted for 14.3% of all commercial address points in Ireland in June 2022.
In total, 22,597 commercial units were classified as operating in this sector. Kerry, at 24.3%, was the county with the highest proportion of Accommodation and Food Services units relative to the overall commercial stock in the county.
"The past two and a half years have proved to be difficult for businesses to navigate, thanks to the impact of Covid-19 restrictions followed by rising inflation and energy costs," Mr Keogh added.