When thinking about Liverpool and buying investment properties, you will often hear the city split into North and South, like so many other cities in the UK. Local estate agents and letting agents may also talk to you in these terms, so when you are starting out, it is helpful to get your head around some of the differences and nuisances of each area.
Property prices, schools, recreational areas, transport links and much more will all vary from North to South. Many people would describe North Liverpool as an ideal location for first time buyers and investors alike. The South offers an abundance of open green spaces, restaurants and excellent transport links, as well as hippy-inspired leafy suburbs attracting a different type of tenant and buyer.
Here we look in more detail at the differences between the North and South and what to expect when you come to visit for the first time!
North Liverpool
Football
Both of Liverpool's Premiership Football Clubs are situated in the North of Liverpool.
Goodison Park Stadium is home to Everton Football Club and Anfield is home to Liverpool Football Club. Both clubs have an extremely large fan base that reaches far beyond the city itself. Fans up and down the UK as well as across the entire globe, flock to the stadiums on game days to watch their favourite teams play.
Everton originally played at Anfield but relocated to Goodison Park in 1892 after Liverpool were formed – but they didn’t move far. The grounds are less that a meter apart from one another, the two stadiums separated by only a short walk across Stanley Park. The Merseyside Derby is one of the Premier League’s biggest matches, with Liverpool and Everton being two of England’s most historic clubs.
Game day creates a buzzing atmosphere and the football fans that are attracted to the city provide strong demand for Serviced Accomodation within the area. SA is a popular strategy among investors and refers to fully furnished properties that can be let out on a short or long term let. This type of accommodation may also offer facilities similar to those offered by hotels.
Things To Do
The North has a lot more to offer other than just football. The busy high streets of Anfield, Litherland, Bootle, Walton and Orrell Park provide a range of leisure facilities, shops, restaurants and bars, cinemas and more. Parks including Stanley Park in Walton and Newsham park in Fairfield offer wide open green spaces for tenants to enjoy. Newsham Park in Fairfield is set in 121 acres and this Grade II listed Victorian park is surrounded by fine period architecture and fishing lakes with roach, carp and tench.
The North is also home to Everton Park Sports and Leisure Centre and Yoganation for the health conscious. Croxteth, Old Swan and Bootle are home to multiplex cinemas. Old Sawn is a popular residential area and attracts families, great for first-time buyers and investors. Bordered by Knotty Ash, Stoneycroft, Broadgreen and Wavertree - Old Swan is a thriving community said to be named after 18th Century public house The Three Swans. Housing is predominantly terraced and there’s a recently regenerated local retail park.
Education
North Liverpool is home to a variety of excellent schools and educational facilities. This makes many areas ideal for investors and first-time buyers, as families and couples want to live close to the top schools to be within the catchment areas.
Merchant Taylors’ Schools are a famous family of schools based in Crosby, just north of Liverpool city centre. Situated in Crosby in North Liverpool, Merchant Taylors' Boys' School is an independent, non-denominational, day school for boys aged 11-18: it is one of the leading boys' schools in the North West and consistently tops the Sefton League Tables for examination results.
The North also boasts The North Liverpool Academy in Anfield which is an academy secondary school that was the result of the merging of Anfield Community Comprehensive School and Breckfield Community Comprehensive School onto one campus in September 2006. The school specialises in business and enterprise as well as computing and mathematics. A new £40 million site was constructed on nearby Heyworth Street, which is now fully operational.
Transport Links
You can easily connect to the M57 from Bootle taking you to the South of the city or out to Manchester and onto the main motorway. This connection makes the area appealing to commuters, with a short drive to the M62.
South Liverpool
Things To Do
The South is one of the city’s most sought-after locations. It offers a variety of attractive job opportunities, significant levels of investment, open green spaces and excellent public transport links like bus and rail services. John Lennon airport in Speke is accessible and offer flights to destinations worldwide. Areas such as Allerton are closely associated with The Beatles. Penny Lane, John Lennon's former home and Strawberry Fields can all be found in this lovely popular suburb in the South.
A vibrant nightlife and bustling high streets an be found in in Allerton, Aigburth, Woolton and Wavertree. Wavertree, Toxteth and all around Lark Lane are popular areas with students and are therefore somewhere to consider if you are looking at HMOs as a property investment strategy.
It has historic parks like Sefton Park and Otterspool Park in Aigburth. The beautiful Calderstones Park in Allerton plays host to the Liverpool International Tennis Tournament every year. Sefton Park in Liverpool is arguably the best known and most loved by locals. Classified as a Grade One listed park by English Heritage, the magnificent 200-acre Park looks like a natural landscape rather than a man-made park. In spring the sight of millions of golden daffodils around the lake draws residents from across the city and carpets of bluebells give an impression of rural permanence.
South Liverpool is home to a number of sought-after hotspots that have seen house prices soar over recent years. Trendy bars and spots to hang out along Lark Lane have attracted homeowners and investors alike. Aigburth was recently voted one of the best places to live in 2019 by The Times. Many would agree that Aigburth is where Liverpublians come to retire. Lying south of Sefton Park, and its restored Victorian palm house, the south Liverpool community of Aigburth stretches out past Otterspool Park and the picturesque namesake promenade lining the banks of the River Mersey.
Best of all, you’re still only minutes away from the bright lights of Liverpool centre, making Aigburth a popular choice for house-hunters who work in the city.
Transport Links
The South also has a comprehensive local road and rail network allowing easy access to the City Centre, and the M62 and M56 motorways.
The south is also home to John Lennon Airport. Located in Speke, Liverpool John Lennon Airport is an international airport serving Liverpool, England and the North West of England. Liverpool John Lennon Airport (LJLA) is one of the North West’s major transport hubs connecting both the city and the wider region with over 70 destinations across the UK, Europe and Africa, with nine carriers operating from the airport including Ryanair, easyJet, Wizz Air and Flybe.
As the North West’s “Faster, Easier, Friendlier” airport, passengers choosing to fly from LJLA can expect a first-class customer experience with security process times consistently under 10 minutes, a fantastic range of food and drink outlets, including The Kissing Gate, Starbucks and Frankie & Benny’s, and a high-quality of service for those with accessibility needs.
Education
South Liverpool also offers great schools from nurseries right up to schools and colleges. Allerton, Walton and Mossley Hill are popular areas with families for this reason, in particular.
One school that is very popular is The Liverpool Blue Coat School. It is a mixed selective school for students from 11-18, which converted to Academy status on 1st March 2012. It is over 300 years old so is rich in tradition yet is forward-looking in ideas and technology.
North or South? You Decide... or Take Both!
Both areas appeal to investors and residents a like for a wide variety of reasons, which we have touch on in this blog article. It comes down to personal preference eventually, on where you would like to live and where you would be happy investing. There is strong rental demand across most parts of the city, the difference is in the price points and what you are able to shell-out to get a foothold in this very popular UK city.
