Despite staff shortages and high inflation, the number of vacant commercial properties fell to its lowest level in ten years last year. This was reported by market researcher Locatus. ‘A new balance will emerge.’
The retail vacancy rate decreased by more than 1700, from 14,482 empty stores at the start of 2022 to 12,722 properties at the end of the year. This means that six percent of commercial properties are now vacant – the same level as at the beginning of 2011.
Gertjan Slob, research director at Locatus, talks about a surprising trend. ‘We have seen vacancy rates fall for some time, but we expected a turnaround at the end of the year. This did not happen.’
Multiple reasons
Locatus sees several reasons for the decline in vacancies. For example, some shops have been demolished or a supermarket has moved into them. But the decrease is mainly due to the fact that many commercial properties have been assigned a different function. “There are a multitude of reasons,” Slob says.
A total of 4,900 new commercial properties were added, but the number of properties assigned a different function was approximately 8,600, consequently the number of properties with a commercial function decreased overall from almost 216,000 to approximately 212,000.
Restaurants, toy shops
According to Locatus, the sector that caused the most vacancies in 2022 is the hospitality industry. Canteens and restaurants in particular have had to close the doors of their premises. Toy stores, on the other hand, have shown a recovery after years of contraction in terms of the number of stores. The number of toy stores even increased slightly last year.
«A surprising trend, but for fifteen years we have seen a decline in the number of toy shops. So probably the bottom has been reached. And many people still want to do some of their shopping in a physical store. For years, many people have been buying a lot online, but there’s a limit to that.’
New balance
According to Slob, the fact that the return policy of many online stores has changed also plays a part in this. For example, customers are increasingly having to pay to return ordered items. This is free in the shop. ‘Many online players are struggling, they have been writing red numbers for years. The online model has reached its limits in numerous industries. A new balance will emerge.’
According to Slob, this doesn’t mean we’ll buy less online, ‘but we estimate we won’t buy even more online. But it is difficult to make a real forecast for the next few years given the current inflation and previous corona years.
Source: BNR
Andrew Dwight is an author and economy journalist who writes for 24 News Globe. He has a deep understanding of financial markets and a passion for analyzing economic trends and news. With a talent for breaking down complex economic concepts into easily understandable terms, Andrew has become a respected voice in the field of economics journalism.
