High vacancy rate in D2 for commercial property
DUBLIN may be leading the charge in terms of Ireland’s economic recovery, but there is a “serious mismatch” between the office stock being demanded and that available.
New research shows that Dublin 2 – an area widely acknowledged as being at the epicentre of the capital’s resurgence – recorded a commercial vacancy rate of 18.3pc for the three-month period to the end of June.
While the figure is admittedly far below the highest vacancy rate of 28.8pc recorded for the town of Ballybofey in Co Donegal, it still significantly outstrips the 13.6pc vacancy rate reported for Co Dublin generally.
The figure also comes in well above the national commercial vacancy rate which, according to the survey by GeoDirectory and DKM Economic Consultants, recorded a year-on-year increase from 13.1pc to 13.5pc.
Asked to account for this seeming anomaly, GeoDirectory CEO Dara Keogh said: “Despite the improvements we have seen in the economy in recent years, commercial vacancy rates have remained stubbornly high.
“In Dublin 2, where the economic recovery is obvious and demand for office space is apparently strong, we have recorded a vacancy rate of 18.3pc.
“This suggests there is a serious mismatch between the stock that is available and what is being demanded.”
Dublin 2 isn’t alone in terms of outstripping the 13.5pc national average for commercial vacancies, with no less than nine of the capital’s postal code areas registering vacancy rates of over 14pc.
Looking at the performance of commercial property at a county level, the survey shows Sligo had the highest vacancy rate in Ireland at 18pc, followed by Leitrim at 16.2pc, Limerick at 15.9pc, Galway at 15.6pc and Mayo at 15.5pc.
Kerry, which has consistently had a low vacancy rate over the past number of years, again had the lowest commercial vacancy rate at 10.6pc. However, this has increased from 9.4pc compared to the same time last year.
At a provincial level, Connacht had the highest average vacancy rate at 15.8pc in the second quarter of 2017, an increase from 15.2pc on the same period in 2016. Ulster recorded the second highest rate at 14.1pc, while Munster recorded a rate of 13.1pc.
Leinster (excluding Dublin) had an average vacancy rate of 12.6pc, up 0.6pc since the second quarter of 2016.
Some 28,784 of the 212,717 commercial address points in Ireland were vacant at the end of June.