Shop vacancy levels fall to five-year low

The number of vacant shops in Britain has fallen to its lowest since April 2010, according to new figures from the Local Data Company (LDC).

In September, Britain’s shop vacancy levels fell to 12.9%. This was despite the leisure vacancy rate increasing from 8.13% in August to 8.16% in September – its highest since the research began tracking leisure in 2013. Overall, the total vacancy rate improved by 0.1% on August to 11.6%.

The town vacancy rate dropped by 0.1% in September, with Wales and the West Midlands improving by 0.3% and 0.4%, respectively. No region saw an increase in its town vacancy rate.

Overall the town vacancy rate was -0.6% lower than in September 2014, with the north of England leading the way. The North East (1.0%), North West (0.9%) and Yorkshire and the Humber (0.8%) had the biggest drops in their respective vacancy rates

Shopping centre vacancy rates also continued to fall across Britain. The vacancy rate dropped by 0.2% to 14.6% when compared to August. The East of England and North West saw the biggest drop in September, dropping by 0.5%. No region saw an increase.

Retail parks also saw a drop in vacancy rate, with a 0.1% drop when compared to the previous month. Greater London saw the biggest increase in its vacancy rate (0.9%), while the North East improved its vacancy rate by 1.3%.

Matthew Hopkinson, director at LDC, commented that it’s “clearly” very good news that vacancy rates are at their lowest level for over five years.

He said: “There are a number of reasons for this and these will vary by specific location but ultimately consumers have more money in their pockets as a result of wages being higher than inflation, employment levels are improving and there is greater focus on the living wage as well as zero-hours contracts.”