The vacancy rate is an economic indicator which measures the percentage of rentable area (RA) of total stock that is currently vacant, within a specific real estate asset class, within a defined geographic area.
For the definition of vacancy rate to be exact, it is necessary to define that actually makes a space vacant. A detailed explanation of that can be found here.
The vacancy rate that prevails in a market is also the combination of the structural vacancy rate and the nominal vacancy rate.
The vacancy rate metric is extremely useful and caught after in the world of commercial real estate. In many economies, a great deal of research goes into determining vacancy rates for different real estate asset classes. For example, the South African Property Owner’s Association (SAPOA) puts out an annual office vacancy survey.
