Slight rise in commercial vacancy rate in county

THE commercial vacancy rate in Cork has risen slightly over the last 12 months, according to a new report.

The GeoDirectory Commercial Buildings Report Q2 2022, prepared by EY, shows that the rate in Cork stood at 12.5% this June, representing an increase of 0.3 percentage points compared to June 2021.

Nationally, the commercial vacancy rate stood at 13.9% in June 2022, a marginal increase of 0.25 percentage points when compared to the same period in 2021. The national commercial vacancy rate is the highest level recorded by GeoDirectory since it began reporting on the rates in 2013.

GeoDirectory was jointly established by An Post and Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSi) to create and manage Ireland’s only complete database of commercial and residential buildings. The figures are recorded through a combination of the An Post network of 5,600 delivery staff working with OSi.

The latest report shows that commercial vacancy rates increased in 15 out of 26 counties in the 12 months to June 2022, with a total of 29,241 vacant commercial units recorded across the country.

The report examined commercial vacancy rates among a sample of 80 towns across the country in June. Of the Cork towns analysed, Youghal had the highest commercial vacancy rate in the second quarter of this year at 19.9% while Carrigaline had the lowest, at 6.8%.