Wirral Market Watch: £380m for Affordable Homes and the North West Keeps Outpacing the Country

This week’s Wirral property news covers a big regional funding announcement, a fresh set of house price figures that put the North West well ahead of the national picture, and two smaller planning stories from opposite ends of the peninsula, in Bromborough and West Kirby.

£380m for affordable homes across the Liverpool City Region

The Liverpool City Region is getting £380 million through the Government’s Social and Affordable Homes Programme, aimed at delivering around 3,100 new homes across the region, Wirral included. Wirral Council announced the news on 27 August. (Wirral View, New funding offers opportunity to boost local affordable housing)

The money ties in with two things the council has set up in recent weeks: the new Wirral Strategic Housing Partnership, which brings housing associations and registered providers together, and a Strategic Land Disposal Framework designed to release council-owned sites for housing. Council Leader Cllr Paula Basnett called it “a resoundingly positive announcement.” Cllr Mark Skillicorn, who chairs the council’s Economy, Regeneration and Housing Committee, said investment in housing “can help unlock development sites, attract further investment, support jobs and growth.”

How much of the £380m goes to Wirral specifically hasn’t been set out yet. But funding, a partnership and a land release framework now all line up, which is the combination that turns housing plans into actual sites.

The North West is growing more than three times faster than the UK

Zoopla’s August House Price Index, published on 27 August, put UK house price growth at just 0.9% over the year, down from 1.3% in June, with the average home now £272,800. (Zoopla, House Price Index: August 2026)

The North West tells a different story. Prices across the region are 3.1% higher than a year ago, more than three times the national rate. This is a regional figure, not a Wirral-specific one. Zoopla doesn’t break out the borough on its own. But it fits the pattern we flagged last week, when the Office for National Statistics put Wirral’s own annual growth ahead of the North West average.

Nationally, Zoopla also noted that mortgage rate rises have cut buyers’ purchasing power by around 9% since January, and that sales agreed are running 6% lower than last year. Buyers are still looking, with searches up 7% on a year ago, but they’re more careful about what they commit to.

Bromborough’s old Civic Centre moves closer to retirement flats

McCarthy & Stone has submitted updated plans for the former Bromborough Civic Centre site on Allport Lane. The latest version is an L-shaped, three-storey block of 46 retirement apartments, 29 one-bedroom and 17 two-bedroom, with parking at the north end of the site next to the Co-op. (Birkenhead News, Retirement development plans advance for Bromborough Civic Centre site)

The Civic Centre, which also housed the library, closed in 2022 during council budget cuts, and the council sold the site to McCarthy & Stone in 2024. The developer expects around 35 jobs during a typical 12-month build. For Bromborough, it’s another piece of new supply alongside the much larger Vistry scheme covered in last week’s round-up, this time aimed squarely at older buyers looking to downsize.

West Kirby’s former Black Horse pub gets the go-ahead, with five new homes

Planning approval has been granted to convert the former Black Horse pub on Black Horse Hill in West Kirby into a shop, with five new homes built on the land to the north and north-west of the building. A separate licensing application is seeking to open a Tesco Express there. (Birkenhead News, West Kirby Tesco plans approved)

The building dates back to the early 1800s and has sat empty since the Leaf café closed in early 2025. Ward councillor Jenny Johnson said she’d have preferred a pub or restaurant but that the building “is in a state of disrepair” and needed action. Five homes won’t change West Kirby’s market on their own, but new supply in one of the peninsula’s most sought-after towns is rare, and bringing an empty landmark back into use tends to lift the street around it.

What this means if you’re watching the Wirral

None of these four stories tells you what a specific house on a specific street is worth. Together, though, they show a region where prices are still rising well ahead of the national average, significant new public money heading into affordable housing, and new homes coming forward in places as different as Bromborough and West Kirby.

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