Retail faces north-south divide
Published: 06 January, 2011
King Sturge points to widening gap in vacancy rates
Retail vacancies are set to fall, according to King Sturge, but the agent warns of a widening gap between the north and the south of the country.
In its annual Property Predictions survey, King Sturge said that across the UK about 13 per cent of shops are vacant. But this masks a nort-south divide with 17 per cent of shops vacant in the north and only 11 per cent in the south.
And although voids generally are falling they are falling faster in the south which means the gap is set to widen, according to King Sturge's head of retail Charles Miller.
“The poliarity between successful and failing centres is still very apparent,” he said. And he warned: “There is also an 'ugly tail' of vacant, obsolete retail space. This is retail stoke that is never going to be re-absorbed back into the market because it is too old, poorly located and ill-configured for the demands of modern day retailing.”
In the past leisure uses have absorbed such space but Miller predicted that conversion to residential use would be the most likely outcome in this cycle.
