One in eight commercial units in Kerry are vacant, according to a newly-released report.
The GeoDirectory Commercial Buildings Report for the second quarter of the year shows Kerry’s rate of commercial vacancy was still among the lowest in Ireland.
GeoDirectory manages Ireland’s only complete database of commercial and residential buildings, through An Post and Tailte Éireann.
The picture also varies by town, with one in five commercial units vacant in Listowel.
Kerry’s commercial vacancy rate of 12.5% in the second quarter of the year represents a small increase from the same period last year.
This is lower than the national commercial vacancy rate of 14.4%.
Only Meath, Wexford, and Cork recorded lower rates of commercial vacancy than Kerry.
Within Kerry, GeoDirectory surveyed Killarney, Tralee, and Listowel.
Listowel had 235 occupied commercial units, but a vacancy rate of over 20%, which is an increase since last year.
Tralee had 779 occupied units, and a vacancy rate of almost 19%, also an increase since last year.
There was a far lower commercial vacancy rate in Killarney at 11.5%, down from 12.6% last year, while the town had 822 occupied commercial address points.
Listowel was among the highest rate of commercial vacancy of all the towns surveyed in Munster, and Killarney was among the lowest in Munster.
The survey of commercial address points showed around a quarter of accommodation and food service units in Ireland are located here in Kerry.
Services, retail and wholesale units made up the vast majority of commercial units in Kerry during the second quarter of the year.
