AFTER March retail vacancy results described as the best since 2010 the situation held steady in April.
Property market analysis firm the Local Data Company’s latest report said: “Britain’s vacancy rate remains at 13.0% in April from a rate of 13.0% in March.
The overall retail and leisure vacancy rate has also remained the same at 11.6%.
Matthew Hopkinson, director at The Local Data Company, said: “Nothing of note to report in April with regards vacancy rates except ‘steady as she goes’.
“An ongoing trend which is encouraging is that we are continuing to see retail and leisure premises that have been vacant being demolished, redeveloped or having a change of use.
“Over 60 premises were changed in this way during April – small to the overall stock but it shows proactive place management in my view.
“A report published for the Independent shows that it is still a challenging task to reduce vacancy rates – as the Phones4U portfolio of shops shows, with 60% still lying empty in April.”
In March the vacancy rate had fallen 0.1% and LDC had said the return to levels not seen since 2010 was “a cause for celebration”.
