Ballybofey has lost its unwanted crown as the town with the highest commercial vacancy rate in Ireland.
More than a third (33.6%) of commercial buildings in the town were lying empty when sampled in the fourth quarter of last year, according to the latest GeoDirectory Commercial Buildings Report.
However, locals claim some units in the town are ‘deliberately’ left vacant and owners choose not to advertise them for rent or sale.
The report found that Shannon, Co. Clare, reported the highest commercial vacancy rate in Q4 2025 at 34.5%, increasing by 3.6 pp in the 12 months to December 2025. Ballybofey dropped from first to second place with a vacancy rate of 33.6%, a decrease of 2.8 pp. Boyle, Co. Roscommon (29.8%), Sligo Town (26.4%) and Letterkenny (26.2%) completed the top five towns with the highest commercial vacancy rates.
In contrast, the lowest commercial vacancy rates in the country were recorded in Carrigaline, Co. Cork (5.1%) and Greystones, Co. Wicklow (7.3%).
Bundoran, meanwhile, had the lowest vacancy rate in Donegal at 14.3% while vacancy levels in the county as a whole had risen to 20.6%, higher than the national average of 14.6%.
County Sligo recorded the highest commercial vacancy rate in the State at 20.8%, followed closely by Donegal (20.6%) and Galway (18.7%).
Meath remained the county with the lowest commercial vacancy rate in the country at 10.0%, followed by Wexford (10.9%) and Westmeath (11.9%).
Ballybofey no longer is Irish town with highest commercial vacancy rate was last modified: February 25th, 2026 by Staff Writer
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