New figures show that one in every five commercial premises in Galway City are lying empty.

And the author of a new report believes the vacancy rates are down to the rising costs of doing business, changing consumer habits and hybrid working.

According to the new report from GeoDirectory and EY Economic Advisory Services, of the 8,852 commercial premises in County Galway at the end of 2023, there was a vacancy rate of 18.5%, up from 17.6% a year earlier.

That means the county now has the second-highest number of ‘empties’ in the country, behind Sligo at 20.5%.

Donegal (18.2%); Mayo and Roscommon (both 17.4%) complete the top five counties. The lowest rates in the country were in Meath (10.1%), Wexford (10.5%) and Cork (12.2%).

Nationally, the average vacancy rate is 14.3% – the highest it has been since the GeoDirectory surveys began in 2013. For County Galway, the vacancy rate at the beginning of 2013 was 12.8%.

A breakdown of the figures for the end of 2023 shows that for Galway City, the rate was higher than County Galway, at 20.1% of the 2,869 premises (up 1% year on year) and in Loughrea, the rate was 18.7% (up 0.9%) of the 277 premises. It was Tuam that recorded the biggest vacancy rate in County Galway, at 26.1% (up from 25.2% a year earlier) of the 412 premises. It was the sixth-highest town in the country, behind Edgeworthstown in Longford (30.2%); Shannon in Clare (29.8%); Ballybofey in Donegal (29.4%); Boyle in Roscommon (27.6%) and Sligo town (26.2%).

A breakdown of the commercial building uses for Galway City shows that 52.6% are in the services sector; 20.7% in retail and wholesale; 13.7% in health; 3.6% in education; 3.2% in the financial sector; 2.9% in industry; 2.3% in construction; and 1% in public administration.

Dara Keogh, Chief Executive of GeoDirectory said: “The rate of commercial vacancies in Ireland has hit a new high of 14.3%, continuing the trend of increasing rates in recent years.

“This trend can be attributed to a number of factors such as the rising cost of doing business, changing consumer habits and hybrid working.

“Consideration must now be given to how some of these vacant properties can be repurposed and reused, in order to avoid long-term vacancy and potential dereliction of these buildings,” he said.

Annette Hughes, Director at EY Economic Advisory, said: “Businesses have been impacted by a series of factors over recent years which have led to challenging trading conditions for many and so this increase is not unexpected. On a more positive note, the continued easing of inflation, ongoing reductions in energy prices and the anticipated cuts in interest rates should hopefully provide some relief for businesses this year.”