Revealed: towns with most vacant shops
RETAILERS in the North West’s recession-battered towns are being urged to appeal their business rates before the March 31 deadline.
Real estate advisers Colliers International issued the advice at the same time as publishing town centre shop vacancy rates – which show how the retail sector has been hit by the financial crash and changes in shopper habits – across the region.
Top of the vacancy list is the Lancashire city of Preston at 63.92% followed by St Helens at 46.43%, Wigan (43.01%), Bury (42.96%), Bolton (41.5%), Birkenhead (33.14%), Oldham (25.82%) and Stockport (22.58).
All the locations in the region are most likely to benefit from lodging an appeal against their business rates, backdated to 2010, before March 31.
Head of rating for the North West in the Manchester office of Colliers, Adam Burke, said: “This research is compelling – it combines information from the Midsummer Retail Rental Report from Colliers International with data from Local Data Company.
“This isn’t just a smoking gun – it’s two smoking barrels of evidence that the Valuation Office, which sets the rateable value for non-domestic properties, should be happy acting on to reduce the rateable values of retail units in those worst affected centres in the North West of England.”
The impact of the recession has been hardest felt outside London with higher vacancy levels and larger falls in rental values, with every region in the country impacted, with the exception of London.
Between 2008 and 2014, retail rents have fallen most in the following regions: Nationally -22% excluding London, Wales (-38%), North East (-31%), West Midlands (-26%), South West (-24%), Eastern (-21%) East Midlands (-19%), North West (-19%), Yorkshire and Humberside (-19%) and South East (-17). In London rents have risen by 28%.
