40% of visibly vacant #highstreet units have no agent involved in trying to get them let.
And that’s on average, some places have an even higher figure.
We’re really grateful to the team at national commercial #property agents GCW for reflecting this issue as part of an article in their latest newsletter.
It matters because with would-be occupiers either opting to walk-see town or city centres they’d like to open a #retail, #hospitality, services or other use type business in or searching online, it surely makes it harder for them if there are no lettings details to learn from, and discouraging if one or more units looks less than its best. If that’s the case then empty units becoming long-time vacant, with all the negatives that can have for neighbour businesses, residents and the place, looks more likely.
The data is drawn from a snap survey we did of the ‘audit, engage’ stages of our work with a number of #TheVacantShopsAcademy early locations and have kept up since. The average figure now is even higher.
We know from experience that there can be a range of reasons why landlords don’t have vacant units on the market. Having this GCW newsletter focus feels especially valuable because, as part of the tackling vacancy-focused ‘place partnership’ we encourage all locations to put in play, proactive agents seem best equipped to turn this round and work with owners to get empties marketed.
It’d be great to hear from commercial agents who are working to overcome these barriers where they are, and on what would help get that percentage figure down…
