Britain’s shop vacancy rate falls to its lowest level since June 2010

The number of vacant shops in Britain stayed the same in October when compared with September, a month in which vacant shops fell to their lowest level since April 2010.

That is according to the latest figures from the Local Data Company (LDC) which found that shop vacancy in October stayed at 12.9%, while leisure vacancy rose slightly to 8.18%. Overall, the total vacancy rate remained at 11.6%.

During the month, the town vacancy rate fell by 0.1% to 11% when compared with the previous month. The majority of regions saw no change in their vacancy rate during the month apart from Wales (-0.1%), West Midlands (-0.2%), Yorkshire and the Humber (-0.1%) and North West (-0.1%).

The only region to see an increase in its town vacancy rate was Greater London (0.1%).

The shopping centre vacancy rate dropped by 0.2% to 14.3% when compared with the previous month. The main regions to see a fall were the West Midlands (-0.6%), East Midlands (-0.5%) and North East (-0.5%).

Meanwhile, retail parks also saw a drop in their vacancy rates with a -0.1% fall. Greater London saw the highest fall of -0.7% when compared with September.

Matthew Hopkinson, director at the LDC, said: “Positive news and stability is what we are seeing in the national vacancy rate. What is promising is seeing some of the regions, notably the North West and North East, with improved rates.”