One-in-eight business units in Kilkenny now lying vacant
By COLIN BARTLEY
THE number of vacant commercial units in Kilkenny continues to rise.
Stark new figures reveal one in every eight commercial units in the city and county are now lying empty.
There are currently 527 vacant commercial units in Kilkenny, up from 515 in 2018. The 527 vacant units represent 12.6% of all commercial units in the county.
The figures emerged in a new report by GeoView Commercial Vacancy Report.
Q2 2019, which provides an analysis of the commercial building stock across Ireland. The report shows that vacancy rates are on the rise with 18 counties reporting an increase, up from just nine counties for the corresponding period in 2018.
The report shows Kilkenny had the fourth largest increase in vacancy rates in the country, up by 0.7% on the same period in 2018. Just Donegal, Roscommon and Leitrim saw a bigger percentage increase.
Kilkenny’s commercial vacancy rate of 12.6% is still lower than the national average of 13.3%. Kilkenny ranks eight from bottom of the table out of the 26 counties.
Connaught is the worst affected by vacant commercial properties, as all five Connaught counties top the list. Sligo is the worst affected county where nearly one out of every five commercial units are vacant.
Meath, Kerry and Wexford have the least amount of vacant properties, each county having one vacant unit per ten units.
