One in six shops in Wales is vacant, according to new research from the Welsh Retail Consortium. In the first quarter of this year the rate was 16.5%, compared to 16.3% in the final quarter of 2022. However, it was 0.4% improvement on Q1 of last year (16.9%).
The vacancy rate in Wales is the second highest of any nation or region of Great Britain, behind only the north east of England at 17.5%. The lowest was Greater London at 11%.
Broken down Welsh shopping centres had the highest vacancy rate at 22.3%, compared to 21.9% in the previous quarter, the high street 16.3%, up from 16.2% and retail parks 10,7%, compared to 10.6%.
