Commercial vacancy rate in County Roscommon hits 17.9%

The commercial vacancy rate in County Roscommon hit 17.9% in December 2024, increasing by 0.5 percentage points compared to December 2023, according to the latest GeoDirectory Commercial Buildings Report.

The commercial vacancy rate in the county was higher than the national average of 14.5%.

Of the urban areas in County Roscommon surveyed, Boyle had the highest commercial vacancy rate (27.7%), while Roscommon Town had the lowest (19.8%) In total, 30,365 of the commercial units were vacant across the country in December 2024. The report also found that the commercial vacancy rate increased in 15 out of 26 counties.

With a 0.1 percentage point increase from Q4 2023, Sligo recorded the highest commercial vacancy rate at 20.6%, followed closely by Donegal (20.1%) and Galway at 18.8%.

Even though all four provinces experienced an increase in vacancy rates, four of the top six counties with the highest vacancy rates were in Connacht, continuing the trend of high commercial vacancy rates in the west of the country. The vacancy rate in Connacht reached 18.5%, an increase of 0.2 pp from Q4 2023.

Meath once again remained the county with the lowest commercial vacancy rate in the country at 9.9%, followed by Wexford (10.8%) and Kerry (12.3%).

This report examined a sample of 80 towns throughout Ireland, as well as 22 districts in Dublin, to assess the shift in commercial vacancy rates from the fourth quarter of 2023 to the same period in 2024.

Of the urban areas in County Roscommon surveyed, Boyle had the highest commercial vacancy rate (27.7%), while Roscommon Town had the lowest (19.8%).

The report found that Ballybofey, County Donegal was the town with the highest commercial vacancy rate in Q4 2024 at 36.4%. Shannon, County Clare moved to second place with a vacancy rate of 30.8% with Edgeworthstown, County Longford (28.3%), Boyle (27.7%) and Sligo town (26.8%) completing the top five towns by highest commercial vacancy rate.

Commenting on the findings, Dara Keogh, CEO of GeoDirectory, said: “The national vacancy rate for commercial properties increased again in Q4 2024, continuing the trend of recent years. At 14.5% it is now at its highest rate on record, with vacancy rates increasing in all four provinces. ”