Rise in commercial vacancy rates

Bailieborough has one of the highest commercial vacancy rates in the country.

The latest GeoDirectory Commercial Buildings Report shows 21.19% of the town’s units were vacant in quarter four of last year. However, that figure has remained steady over the previous 12 months, matching that of the same quarter the previous year.

The country generally has seen an increase in vacancy rates over the year, with the national average increasing by 0.4% to 13.9%. Twelve other towns had higher vacancy rates than Bailieborough, including Edgeworthstown, Roscommon, Castleblayney and Shannon.

Bailieborough’s figure is only slightly better than that of Cootehill, which recorded vacancies totalling 21.2%. Cavan Town, meanwhile, had the best rate of the three local towns surveyed with a rate of 16.7%.

County Cavan as a whole had a below average vacancy rate, standing at 13.2%. That’s slightly below the national average of 13.9% and one of only 10 counties to fall below the national figure. The country, as a whole, however recorded the highest national commercial vacancy rate in the report’s nine-year history.

However again, the county saw an increase in its overall vacancy rate. It rose by 0.3% over the year to the end of 2021.

A breakdown of the stats shows the services sector occupies the largest share of Cavan’s commercial properties at 46.1%, followed by the retail and wholesale sector at 25.1%.

Health (7.1%), industry (6.5%), construction (7.7%), education (4.5%), financial (2.7%) and public admin (2.3%) made up the remainder.

Neighbouring County Longford recorded the highest reduction in vacancy rates in the country last year, seeing a one percent drop in the number of vacant units. Only two other counties, Louth and Waterford, also saw improvements.