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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
National
Dan Haygarth

Why 'hidden gem' Kirkby has become one of the country's property hotspots

Data from Rightmove showed Kirkby was the North West's hotspot for new buyer demand in January.

Enquiries for properties in the town more than doubled compared to last year, while average asking prices have risen by 11.9% annually.

This meant that the average asking price for a home in Kirkby was £127,787 in January 2022.

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Nationally, Kirkby came ninth on the list for new buyer demand.

Places such as Corsham, Wiltshire, Prestwick, Ayrshire and Hope Valley in Derbyshire also featured on the list.

Joanne Hughes from Greenbank Property Services -one of Kirkby's biggest estate agents - was not surprised to hear that the town had made the list.

She told the ECHO : "I always have thought that Kirkby has been a bit of a hidden gem. It has a tag from years ago that it struggled to shrug off.

"But when you see it, it’s a lovely town. There’s plenty of green space, the houses are really spacious. I always feel like Kirkby was too cheap anyway because it had a stigma."

Joanne believes that 'stigma' is a thing of the past and that Kirby is "on the up", making it an attractive place to buy.

She added: "Every house is really well looked after and the town has a tight-knit community. On top of that, money has also been spent on the town centre - there’s a new retail park, Liverpool Football Club’s academy is now here, Amazon has opened two big sites.

"The job opportunities in Kirkby now are phenomenal, there are a lot of people coming to live in Kirkby now because they’ve got a job here. People are investing because the rental market is also really buoyant.

"Previously a lot of people wouldn’t stay in Kirkby, they’d buy in Ormskirk and Maghull, because they were better areas with better schools, but now a lot of people are thinking that Kirkby’s on the up.

"There’s a lot going on, we’re getting a cinema now, hopefully that will bring a couple of restaurants - there’s talk of a Nando’s."

Kirkby's comparatively lower prices have also made it popular among prospective buyers, Joanne said.

She added: "Once we got the increase of buyers after covid and a lot of people were trying to spend or invest in property, Kirkby was the most affordable town to buy in.

"We’ve seen a lot of is that people are looking to work from home at times and chances are they need a spare room in the house.

"Whether that’s a downstairs office or a spare bedroom that they can base from. What we’re finding is that because Kirkby is much cheaper than areas like Maghull, Ormskirk and Aigburth - if someone is selling a three-bed semi-detached in Maghull, they can come to Kirkby and get a five-bed detached home for that price."

Joanne witnesses the popularity of buying in Kirkby and said that houses are being sold faster than ever.

She said: "Within an hour of a house going up, there’s 30 viewings on it and we’re fully booked.

"From 30 viewings, you get about 20 offers, so you can imagine that the prices go up with people outbidding one another on each property that they see."

This has led to prices rising, as buyers attempt to outbid one another.

And this is reflected in the current asking prices which have risen by almost 12%.

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