One in five commercial premises vacant in Athlone

One in every five commercial premises in Athlone was vacant at the end of 2023, according to a major new survey.

The GeoDirectory Commercial Buildings Report also found that Athlone had the sixth highest levels of commercial vacancies among the main towns in Leinster, excluding Dublin.

The report found that Athlone's commercial vacancy rate at 20% had disimproved from the 19.4% vacancy rate recorded in December 2022.

The commercial vacancy figures do not include a significant level of business closures in the town since the start of 2024.

The latest GeoDirectory Commercial Buildings Report, prepared by EY, found the commercial vacancy rate in Westmeath increased to 12.7% in December 2023, was largely driven by the worsening situation in Athlone. However, the Westmeath figure still remains lower than the national average of 14.3%.

Of the towns in Westmeath analysed, Athlone had the highest commercial vacancy rate at 20% while Mullingar had the lowest at 13%. The figure for Moate was 16.9%. The Mullingar and Moate figures were effectively on par with the situation the previous year (Mullingar down 0.1 percentage point and Moate up by the same.

At a national  level, the average commercial vacancy rate increased by 0.3 percentage points to 14.3% in the year to Q4 2023. This is the highest level of commercial vacancy recorded by GeoDirectory since it began tracking data in 2013. In total, there were 30,046 empty commercial units across the country, with the commercial vacancy rate increasing in 20 out of 26 counties.

Sligo, at 20.5%, was the county with the highest commercial vacancy rate, followed by Galway (18.5%) and Donegal (18.2%). The west of the country continued to record high commercial vacancy rates in Q4 2023, with the rate in Connacht reaching 18.3%, an increase of 0.7 ppts compared to the same period in 2022.

Meath (10.1%) remained as the county with the lowest commercial vacancy rate in the state, closely followed by Wexford (10.5%) and Cork (12.2%).

In Dublin, the commercial vacancy rate increased by 0.3 ppts from Q4 2022 to 13.2%, which was the highest level recorded in Dublin since Q4 2016.

Nationally, Edgeworthstown, Co. Longford was the town with the highest commercial vacancy rate in the country in Q4 2023, at 30.2%. Shannon, Co. Clare (29.8%), Ballybofey Co. Donegal (29.4%), Boyle, Co. Roscommon (27.6%), and Sligo Town (26.2%) completed the top five towns by highest commercial vacancy rate.

Greystones, Co. Wicklow and Carrigaline, Co. Cork were the towns with the lowest commercial vacancy rate in the country, at 5.6% and 7.2% respectively.

Within the capital’s postal districts, Dublin 2 had the highest vacancy rate at 18.2%. Dublin 2 also recorded the largest year-on-year rise, increasing by 1.5 ppts between December 2022 and December 2023.

The Dublin postcode with the lowest vacancy rate was Dublin 15, at 6.0%. Eight out of the 22 Dublin districts recorded a decrease in vacancy rates, with the largest fall in Dublin 20, of 3.3 ppts. 18 Dublin districts recording vacancy rates below the national average of 14.3%.