Britain’s vacancy drops to 13.2% in December, according to the Local Data Company (LDC). The overall retail and leisure vacancy rate has remained at 11.8%.
LDC director Matthew Hopkinson commented: “December’s vacancy figures, while showing a marginal decline in empty shops, are not showing any significant movement. The decline in the shop vacancy rate is as a result of temporary lets and pop up shops during the Christmas period. The acid test will be to see how these numbers adjust in January and the impact of the administrations and closures of Bank and USC, let alone the supermarket closures that have been announced for 2015.”
He added: “A promising year lies ahead in that 2014 showed the symbiotic relationship between bricks and clicks, and that physical shopping and collection is alive and well. With low inflation and an uptick in wage growth, 2015 has the potential to see the vacancy rate fall further from its peak of 14.6% in 2012.”
