Wirral Market Watch: The Hythe Fills Up, Liscard Tackles an Eyesore and West Kirby Keeps Climbing

This week brings a milestone at Wirral Waters, a plan to finally deal with one of Liscard’s longest-empty buildings, a new conservation area consultation in Noctorum, and two national house price releases that pull in slightly different directions, while the North West keeps growing.

The Hythe at Wirral Waters is now fully let

The Hythe, the three-storey Grade A office building on Tower Road at Wirral Waters, is now fully occupied. Wirral Council approved leasing the last vacant space, on the ground floor, to Aslan Labs Management Ltd. The upper floors were already let. (Wirral View, Milestone at Wirral Waters as The Hythe is fully let)

Peel built The Hythe in 2020, and the council bought it in April 2025. Council Leader Cllr Paula Basnett said full occupancy “demonstrates growing confidence in Birkenhead as a place to invest.” A single office building won’t move house prices. But businesses taking space at Wirral Waters bring people and spending into the docks area, and that matters for the homes planned around them.

Liscard’s Dominick House could finally come down

Dominick House, the 1970s office block on St Albans Road in Liscard town centre, has been empty for eight years and has more recently attracted antisocial behaviour. Wirral Council, which already owns the freehold, is now seeking approval to buy the leasehold and then sell the whole site on to the owners of the neighbouring Cherry Tree Shopping Centre. (Wirral View, Liscard Dominick House update)

The expected outcome is demolition, with the land folded into the shopping centre to “increase the vitality of the centre of Liscard overall.” The council would use Local Regeneration Fund money for the purchase and give up the £16,700 a year it currently earns from the lease. Earlier plans to convert the block into apartments, first backed in 2020, never went ahead. (Place North West, Wirral steps in to tackle Liscard eyesore)

The proposal goes before the council’s Economy, Regeneration and Housing Committee on Monday 14 September. If it’s approved, it removes one of the most visible problems in Liscard town centre. For anyone looking at Liscard or Wallasey as a place to invest, a cleared, redeveloped town centre site is worth keeping an eye on.

Noctorum Ridge could become a conservation area

Wirral Council has opened a second round of consultation on making Noctorum Ridge a conservation area, with a revised boundary based on feedback from the first round. The area is known for its large mansions built between the 1870s and the early 1900s, several designed by architect Edmund Kirby. (Wirral View, Have your say on latest plans for Noctorum Ridge Conservation Area)

The consultation runs until Sunday 11 October, and there’s a drop-in event on Thursday 24 September, 5pm to 7pm, at Wirral Golf Club on Bidston Road. If you’re thinking of buying in the area, this one’s worth a look. Conservation area status affects what extensions, alterations and new building are allowed for years afterwards.

National prices: one index up slightly, one down, the North West ahead

Two national house price indices came out this week. Nationwide, published on 1 September, put UK annual growth at 1.6% in August, up from 1.4% in July, with the average home at £275,465. Chief economist Robert Gardner described the market as having “remained subdued in recent months.” (Nationwide, House price growth remained subdued in August)

The Lloyds House Price Index, which is the former Halifax index under a new name with the same method, came out on 7 September. It showed UK prices down 0.2% on the month and 0.4% lower than a year earlier. That’s the first annual fall on that index since November 2023, with the average home at £298,468. The North West went the other way, up 2% on the year to an average of £248,675. (Mortgage Solutions, reporting the Lloyds House Price Index)

Neither index breaks out Wirral on its own, so treat these as regional and national figures. The pattern is the same one we’ve seen all summer, though. The national market is flat to slightly down, and the North West keeps moving in the other direction.

What this means if you’re watching the Wirral

None of these stories tells you what a specific house on a specific street is worth. Together they show businesses filling space at Wirral Waters, the council taking direct action on a problem building in Liscard, a historic part of the borough getting extra protection, and a regional market that’s holding up better than the national headlines suggest.

If you’re weighing up the Wirral as a place to invest, join our investor list and we’ll bring opportunities to you as we find them.