“Half the visibly vacant units in town and city centres have no commercial property agent involved in trying to get them let.”
50 per cent. One in every two.
…and that’s an average figure, so in your place it might be higher. Tho of course there are locations with a lower number, in some we’ve tallied it’s above the 70 per cent mark.
So if there’s no-one proactively trying to secure a new tenant. If there is no board for a would-be occupier to get details from and nothing online, surely it’s less likely to be back in play anytime soon…?
This explains why we are so keen to emphasise to local teams we’re working with on tackling #highstreet vacancy that it’s not just an agents-landlord thing…
…and why we are so sure that having a ‘place partnership’ – bringing together agents, landlords, businesses, community, cultural organisations, councils, chamber, BID where there is one to work on this – means you’ll reduce your headline vacancy rate quicker and more sustainably, and improve the mix of uses.
Couple of explainers…
We started counting which visibly vacant units had an agent involved and which didn’t in our early #TheVacantShopsAcademy locations and have maintained it since, so the data now covers 30+ places (with more to add as we ‘audit’ our newest commissions);
- It’s worth saying also that some of those in the ‘no agent’ tally might have had one on the case but the board’s now down as it let, it’s not got one because tho empty the unit has a former tenant still paying rent on an unexpired lease, or the landlord is trying to take on that marketing role.
Still, that average figure seems high. Too high…
…and trying to get more of your empty units marketed is for sure part of the journey to reducing vacancy.
Do you know what the agent / no agent percentage is in your town or city centre…?
It’d be interesting to hear from you…
