STORM TRACKER: Follow 'Storm Amy' as it bears down on Ireland amid brutal forecast
Search
06 Sept 2025
Search
06 Sept 2025
Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content.
Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist.
If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter .
Support our mission and join our community now.
To continue reading this article, you can subscribe for as little as €0.50 per week which will also give you access to all of our premium content and archived articles!
Alternatively, you can pay €0.50 per article, capped at €1 per day.
Thank you for supporting Ireland's best local journalism!
Ballina has a commercial vacancy rate of 23.5 percent according to a new survey
BALLINA has been found to have the highest rate of commercial vacancy of any town in Mayo, according to a new report.
According to GeoDirectory’s latest report, the North Mayo town has a commercial vacancy rate of 23.5 percent in quarter 4 of 2023.
This was the highest of the three Mayo towns surveyed for the report, ahead of Castlebar (20.8 percent) and Westport, which recorded the lowest percentage in Connacht with 12.5 percent.
Westport was also the only town to register a vacancy rate below the national vacancy rate.
The commercial vacancy rate in Mayo increased by 0.2 percent to 17.4 percent in December 2023, higher than the national average of 14.3 percent.
The GeoDirectory Commercial Buildings Report examined the commercial vacancy rates among a sample of 80 towns across the country in December 2023.
Only three counties recorded a higher percentage of vacant commercial units, with Sligo recording the highest with 20.5 percent.
The report also found that Mayo had the fifth highest concentration of occupied accommodation and food services commercial premises of any county.
The county added nine new accommodation and food services addresses between the end of 2022 and 2023, giving it 17.8 percent of the total stock in the state.
Westport had the highest percentage of commercial properties engaged in services-type activities, accounting for 60.4 percent of all commercial units.
Ballina recorded the second highest level of retail and wholesale commercial properties in Connacht, making up 30.4 of its total stock.
Commenting on the findings of the GeoDirectory Commercial Buildings Report, Dara Keogh, CEO of GeoDirectory, said the increased rate of commercial vacancy ‘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,” Mr Keogh added.
Subscribe or register today to discover more from DonegalLive.ie
Buy the e-paper of the Donegal Democrat, Donegal People's Press, Donegal Post and Inish Times here for instant access to Donegal's premier news titles.
Keep up with the latest news from Donegal with our daily newsletter featuring the most important stories of the day delivered to your inbox every evening at 5pm.
This publication supports the work of the Press Council of Ireland and Office of the Press Ombudsman, and our staff operate within the Code of Practice of the Press Council. You can obtain a copy of the Code, or contact the Council, at www.presscouncil.ie, Lo-call 1800 208 080 or email: info@presscouncil.ie.
