Louth sees rise in commercial vacancy rates

The commercial vacancy rate in Louth increased to 14.7% in the twelve months to the final quarter (Q4) of 2022, according to the latest GeoDirectory Commercial Vacancy Rates Report, published yesterday.

The commercial vacancy rate in Louth was higher than the national average of 14.0%. Of the towns in Louth surveyed, Dundalk had the highest commercial rate at 19.1%, while Ardee had the lowest rate at 15.5%.

Louth saw its commercial vacancy rate rise from 14.3% in Q4 2021 to 14.7% in Q4 2022, a rise of 0.4%.

The report also provides some analysis of commercial address points by economic sector. It found that in the Accommodation and Food Services sector in Louth, the number of occupied commercial address points in Louth fell from 574 to 571 in the year to Q4 2022. This sector occupied 12.3% of the commercial stock in Louth in Q4 2022.

It also provides some details on towns in Louth. The vacancy rate in Dundalk rose from 18.2% in Q4 2021 to 19.1% in Q4 2022. In Drogheda it rose from 18.1 to 18.8. In Ardee however, it fell from 16.8 in Q4 2021 to 15.5 in Q4 2022.

Looking at Dundalk in more detail, the reports shows that in Q4 2022, there were 1,324 occupied units with a NACE code. A NACE code is used to group organisations according to their business activities/sector.

Commercial units in Dundalk comprised the following sectors in Q4 2022:

• Services – 48.1%
• Retail and Wholesale – 26.7%
• Health – 10%
• Construction – 2.5%
• Industry – 4%
• Education – 4%
• Finanical – 2.9%
• Public Admin – 1.9%

For Ardee it was the following:

• Services – 42.8%
• Retail and Wholesale – 25.3%
• Health – 13.8%
• Construction – 3.7%
• Industry – 5.9%
• Education – 3%
• Finanical – 3%
• Public Admin – 2.6%

Nationally, according to the report the commercial vacancy rate in Ireland hit a ten year high of 14.0%, the highest level recorded by GeoDirectory since the report began in 2013.

The report, prepared by EY (Ernst & Young), found that commercial vacancies increased in 18 out of 26 counties. the commercial vacancy rate in Ireland hit a ten-year high in Q4 2022, with 29,581 empty commercial units across the country. This has led to an increase in the national commercial vacancy rate by 0.1%.

The total number of commercial properties recorded in Q4 2022 was 210,710, after decreasing by 850 units when compared to the previous year.