Liverpool, an overview
A general history of property investment in Liverpool paints a vivid picture of the city and its journey from a notorious no-go, to an illustrious powerhouse. Liverpool’s story defies convention, and indeed the traditional trajectory of most cities. Once considered an area that was (for the most part) experiencing a steady socio-economic decline; Liverpool has since bounced back in a completely untypical manner.
Due to an ongoing regeneration effort, Liverpool has seen vast improvements across both its city centre and outlying areas. Liverpool’s initial decline can be attributed in part, to the advent of the post-industrial era. This time saw the workers of Liverpool’s famous ports overtaken by the machine- a much more cost-efficient and dependable means of labour. At one time there were estimated to be as many as 200,000 people employed by the Liverpool docks. Shortly after the introduction of this new technology however, this number was quickly reduced to around 300. In a bid to realign the city’s fortune and attract new investors, both the council and the private sector introduced various projects across the city centre, including ‘Liverpool One’. Projects such as this were presented with the task of revamping the city centre, making it a more desirable space to live, work and trade. After work had begun, the city had received a substantial facelift, grabbing the attention of more investors, year on year. Then, just as soon as it was all was looking up, it all came crashing down. Following the UK’s 2008 recession, work done in an attempt to regenerate the city ground to an abrupt halt. Although Liverpool was now a more feasible commodity, there was still much work that needed to be done. Following the recession. Liverpool saw many of their developments stand empty for several years following the crash. Despite this, the city inevitably bounced back and quickly re-established itself as a central hub for investment in the North-West.
Low prices, high ambitions
According to the office for National Statistics, Liverpool’s current population stands at around 467,000 and has a population density of 10,070 per square mile. With such a large number of people (that’s still on the increase) in a small concentrated area, an inevitable demand for property arises.
In the past decade over £5 billion of investment has successfully transformed the city back into the energetic melting pot of culture that it once was. Now, thanks to the influx of big companies such as Jaguar, Land Rover and Unilever in the city, Liverpool is creating jobs at a faster rate than even before the recession.
With a growing digital and technology climate, Liverpool has experienced a record number of start-ups since 2015. In the past six years alone, the number of companies able to be identified as high growth has risen by 56%. With a trend of growth that far surpasses its previous years, Liverpool is set to follow its upward ascent in the coming future. Thankfully, much like the Northwest’s other major powerhouse, Manchester, Liverpool offers similarly modest housing prices. This makes property investment in Liverpool an extremely plausible and potentially rewarding practice. The average house price in Liverpool over the last couple of years has in fact been posited as being just as much as £145,359.
