The vacancy rate of prime ground floor retail space on Cork city’s main shopping street rose to 19.5% in the first three months of the year, according to real estate firm CBRE.
That is up 1.3 percentage points on the last three months of 2014 and gives Patrick St the highest vacancy rate of all the country’s main retail locations.
Cork was one of three locations to see its retail vacancy rate increase, with Kilkenny rising 1 percentage point to 7.7% and Killarney also up 1% to 3.9%.
Galway’s vacancy rate stood firm at 2.8%, meanwhile.
During the three month period Belfast saw the biggest improvement in its rate, down 4.9 percentage points to 10% by the end of March. Vacancy levels also improved significantly in Limerick, down 4.6 percentage points to 14%.
Overall, CBRE has reported signs of improvement in the retail property market across Ireland.
In its latest Retail MarketView, the firm said high street occupancy had improved nationwide in the past six months, while most sectors of the retail industry saw sales growth in 2014.
The company also reported that rents for prime properties on Dublin’s Grafton St were up last year – rising €5,500 per square metre per year – while prime high street retail yields now stand at 4%.
