Shop vacancy rates increased slightly in June, according to the Local Data Company’s (LDC’s) monthly barometer published today.
Town centre vacancy rates in Great Britain edged back up to 14.6% in June 2012. This change, albeit small, means the shop vacancy rate is back at its highest recorded level, said LDC.
Matthew Hopkinson, director at LDC, said: “June’s rise in shop vacancy should not be considered as a negative change in light of the change being a mere 0.05%. It shows stability in unstable times but the national figure hides the regional and local variances, which are significant and will be revealed in our next bi-annual shop vacancy report on 4 September 2012.
“Recent weak reports on the economy and retail sales figures show that the pressure remains on shops up and down the country. Whilst the Olympics will bring a boost for London and the south-east, as the recent census results did in population numbers, the same cannot be said for other parts of the country. The number of empty shops in the top 650 town centres currently stands in excess of 23,000.”
Source: LDC
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