Commercial vacancies remain ‘stubbornly high’

The amount of vacant business premises remains “stubbornly high” despite the recovery of the economy, with Connacht vastly above the national average, a new economic report has found.

The national commercial vacancy rate increased between the second quarter of 2016 and the same period this year, going from 13.1% to 13.5%.

Just under 29,000 of the almost 213,000 commercial address points in Ireland were vacant, the research by GeoDirectory and DKM Economic Consultants found. The report found the highest vacancy rate of any county in Ireland was recorded in Sligo at 18%, followed by Leitrim at 16.2%, Galway at 15.6% and Mayo at 15.5%.