Almost one-in-five commercial properties across Galway were vacant last year, according to a new report.
The Latest GeoDirectory Commercial Buildings Report shows that with 18.5 per cent of commercial properties empty across Galway, the county has the second-highest vacancy rate in the State, just behind Sligo with a 20.5 per cent void figure.
The national commercial building vacancy rate increased by 0.3 percentage points 14.3 per cent last year, the highest it has ever been since data tracking began ten years ago. In total, there were over 30,000 empty commercial units across the country by December 2023, with the vacancy rate increasing in 20 out of 26 counties, the report notes.
Over a quarter of commercial properties are empty in Tuam (26 per cent ), the third emptiest town in Connacht after Boyle and Sligo. Loughrea has the lowest Co Galway vacancy rate at a still-high 18 per cent. A noteworthy 19.5 per cent of commercial addresses in Galway city are marked vacant.
Connacht has the highest vacancy rate across all four provinces, with 17.9 per cent of offices lying empty. Leinster, even when excluding the Greater Dublin Area, has a vacancy rate of 14 per cent, unchanged year-on-year.
Co Galway has the third-highest number of commercial addresses in the Republic, with 6 per cent of the total. It also has one of the highest proportions of commercial addresses in the accommodation and food sector, with almost 18 per cent of Galway businesses falling into this category, a decrease of seven points since 2022.
Half of County Galway’s business addresses are services, 21 per cent in retail, 11 per cent Health, with the remainder in construction, industry, education, finance and public administration.
GeoDirectory boss Dara Keogh said hybrid working, rising costs and consumer behaviour were accelerating trends in the commercial property sector. He recommends repurposing empty commercial buildings to avoid dereliction.
GeoDirectory was jointly established by An Post and Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSi ) to create and manage a complete database of commercial and residential buildings.
