Liverpool has undergone a sweeping transformation over the past 20 years, turning post-industrial docklands and city-centre sites into thriving residential, commercial, and cultural districts. Liverpool regeneration has created powerful property investment opportunities, appealing to both short-term holiday lets and long-term rentals. In this in-depth review, we examine the major Liverpool regeneration projects, the role of the Liverpool Waters scheme (led by Peel Group), and the factors driving both tourist and student housing demand. We will also outline optimal investment strategies for both short-term and long-term lets, illustrated by our own experience completing a short-let-approved property in the prime Liverpool regeneration zone.

Liverpool Regeneration Projects Reshaping The City

Over the last two decades, there have been multiple major Liverpool regeneration projects that have revitalised whole districts. These include the transformation of Baltic Triangle, Albert Dock, Liverpool ONE (Paradise Street), Ten Streets, and more. Together, they have redefined the city’s urban fabric:

  • Baltic Triangle (2010s–present): Once a derelict industrial area, the Baltic Triangle has become a creative and tech hub. Old warehouses now house start-ups, media studios and co-working spaces, and new residential developments. A new Merseyrail station (opening 2027) is expected to further boost the area’s growth. For example, a proposed £50m Baltic Triangle scheme will convert a former warehouse site into 194 apartments (with co-working space). Planners expect new transit links (Baltic Station) to unlock further projects in this quarter. This is the most recently completed Liverpool regeneration.

  • Liverpool ONE (Paradise Street, 2004–2008): Also known as the Paradise Project, this £920m city-centre Liverpool regeneration replaced a derelict 42-acre site with a new open-air retail and leisure district (Liverpool ONE). It created 165 shops, 600 apartments, two hotels, a 14-screen cinema and a new bus interchange. The project set a precedent for commercial development in Liverpool and now anchors long-term footfall and rental demand.
  • Royal Albert Dock (1980s–present): The historic Albert Dock was left abandoned in the 1970s but was regenerated in the 1980s into a cultural hub. It now houses Tate Liverpool, the Maritime Museum and other attractions. This UNESCO-listed dock draws over six million visitors a year, making it a cornerstone of Liverpool’s tourist economy. Its success paved the way for connecting new developments along the waterfront.

  • Ten Streets (mid-2010s–present): The Ten Streets, within the Liverpool Waters regeneration, is the latest Liverpool regeneration project that targets 125 acres north of the city centre, aiming to become Liverpool’s creative enterprise district. Its vision is to generate 2,500 new jobs across historic warehouses and new streets. The scheme emphasises arts and culture, for example, it cites the Invisible Wind Factory (IWF) as a catalyst for the area’s creative renaissance. Ten Streets is being planned with sustainable design, new public spaces, and (where appropriate) modest residential infill. It is explicitly touted as “as important to Liverpool’s future economy as our Commercial District and Knowledge Quarter”.

  • Other key Liverpool regeneration projects: The Fabric District, Paddington Village/Knowledge Quarter, Kings Dock waterfront, and Great George Street masterplan are also part of the fabric of Liverpool’s renewal. (For brevity, we focus on the high-profile areas above.) Each project has taken underused land and injected new life, often blending historic preservation with modern offices, leisure, and housing.

These Liverpool regeneration schemes have dramatically changed the city. For instance, the once-neglected waterfront is now home to global banks and creative firms. As Warwick North West’s CEO noted at the UK REiFF conference, Liverpool ONE and the M&S Bank Arena (opened 2008) finally “rebirthed” Royal Albert Dock as a dynamic destination. That integration of new retail, leisure and office space supports sustained long-term rental demand, while the ever-growing arts and nightlife scene in areas like Baltic/Ten Streets feeds short-term visitor interest.

Liverpool Regeneration: The New Waterfront Vision

The single largest Liverpool regeneration scheme is Liverpool Waters, a Peel Group–led masterplan covering 60 hectares along the north docks. It is a 30-year, multi-billion-pound plan to extend the city centre and create a new mixed-use waterfront. Key facts about Liverpool Waters include:

  • Scale and ambition: The largest Liverpool regeneration project to date, Liverpool Waters spans 2.3km of river frontage and covers 60 hectares of former docklands. It is projected to be a £5.5 billion investment, one of the UK’s biggest single developments. The plan is divided into five neighbourhoods (e.g. Clarence Dock, Central Docks, Northern Docks).
    • Tom Morris (founder of Home Bargains) has aggressively invested in Liverpool property through his Davos Group. In 2025, Davos bought several strategic sites near the city centre and waterfront. Notably, Morris’s company is planning a £1 billion cluster of skyscrapers on the King Edward Industrial Estate (near the Pier Head) – 10 residential towers up to 60 storeys tall. Davos has already submitted plans for a 28-storey apartment tower next to Peel’s Liverpool Waters site. These high-profile projects show private confidence: a local entrepreneur is committing billions to prime Liverpool regeneration land.

  • Current Liverpool regeneration progress: As of 2024, over £880 million of Liverpool regeneration projects are underway at Liverpool Waters. Work has started on two new residential schemes totalling 600 homes, the modern Isle of Man Ferry Terminal is almost complete, and Everton FC’s new stadium has recently been completed. This Liverpool regeneration site currently has £880m of construction active (including 600 new homes. Notably, Peel’s official site confirms 600 homes currently onsite and 200,000 sq.ft of Grade A commercial space – a sign of the mix of use.

  • Mix of uses: Liverpool Waters will blend offices, residences, visitor attractions, leisure, and even an international football stadium. The plan explicitly includes offices, shops, restaurants, a hotel, educational space, arts venues, sports facilities (Everton’s stadium), and thousands of new homes. For example, one sub-area called Central Docks has outline permission for up to 3,800 homes plus commercial and leisure floorspace.

  • Peel Group Liverpool regeneration: Peel Group (Peel L&P) has a track record of creating new urban districts (e.g. MediaCityUK in Salford, Manchester; they also developed the Wirral Waters). Their latest Liverpool regeneration project, Liverpool Waters, is often compared in ambition to Canary Wharf or MediaCityUK. A 2024 update by Peel reaffirmed that despite design tweaks, “the scale of the project and ambition remain unchanged”, even as it accounts for new trends like remote working and integrates Everton’s stadium.

  • Liverpool Regeneration impact: By building this new extension of the city, Liverpool Waters is expected to catalyse wider development. It forms half of the Mersey Waters Enterprise Zone (with Wirral Waters), a government-endorsed growth area. As people and businesses move in this Liverpool regeneration, will link to adjacent neighbourhoods (like Ten Streets and Baltic) to form a continuous rejuvenated corridor.

  • Connectivity: A new pedestrian link bridge now connects Princes Dock and Central Dock, greatly improving access through Liverpool Waters and all the way to Everton’s Bramley-Moore stadium. This bridge (pictured above right) is part of infrastructure upgrades (roads, cycleways, etc.) that integrate Waters with the rest of the city. In May 2024, the council approved the link, noting it will “eventually allow [fans and visitors] to reach Everton’s new £750m stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock”. These transport improvements (plus a dockside ferry terminal) mean that Liverpool Waters is already knitting together job centres, homes, and visitor attractions.
    • Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium (at Bramley-Moore Dock) now anchors the Northern Docks. This £750m waterfront stadium is on track to open for the upcoming 2025/26 season. Once complete, the stadium will not only host Premier League games but is also surrounded by planned retail, leisure and hospitality venues. For property investors, that means Liverpool Waters is poised to capture stadium-day footfall as well as year-round visitors. As Peel’s PR notes, Liverpool Waters retains the vision to create a mixed-use extension to the city, with the stadium now a key element in that mix.
    • By comparison with other metropolises, Peel Group’s sites include MediaCityUK (Salford) and their vision for Liverpool Waters similarly “connects” to those developments in ambition. (While we do not link to Peel’s site here, they describe this Liverpool regeneration as “transform[ing] the city’s northern docks” and a “world-class mixed-use waterfront”.)

Everton Stadium & Bootle: A New Town

Everton FC’s new stadium has catalysed its own regeneration context as part of the wider Liverpool regeneration strategy. The Bramley-Moore Dock project (Hill Dickinson Stadium) was the biggest new-build in Liverpool for decades. Local business leaders have called it a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” to boost the economy. Indeed, the project has reignited plans for a “Liverpool North New Town” stretching from the city’s waterfront through Bootle (the Tithebarn project). Plans for thousands of new homes are tied to the stadium’s presence. One recent proposal is a 10-year plan to build 10,000 new homes north of the city centre (the “Liverpool North New Town”), explicitly linking to the Everton stadium’s riverfront development.

The impact on footfall is clear: more fans and events mean higher demand for bars, restaurants and short-term accommodation around Everton’s old Goodison Park and the new stadium. Even Everton’s matchdays at Goodison have been drawing crowds of young fans and families. Now with stadium tours and women’s international fixtures (e.g. UEFA Women’s Championship matches) coming to Goodison, the city’s football tourism has grown beyond Liverpool FC. In short, Everton’s investment has spread the Liverpool regeneration zone northward and increased demand for nearby rental properties (both short-let and longer-term).

“Prior to the project starting there was a promise of a £1bn boost to the city region economy and tens of thousands of new jobs,” says one local businessman. To achieve that, coordinated planning is underway: for example, in Sefton (Bootle) a public consultation has been launched to plan shuttle services and development around the new stadium. These discussions envision various Liverpool regeneration projects such as Liverpool Waters, Ten Streets, the stadium and Bootle forming “a corridor of growth and prosperity”. For investors, the stadium’s completion is a signal: the connected area’s property values and rents are expected to climb as the “New Town” vision takes shape.

New Lifestyle, Culture and Leisure

Liverpool regeneration isn’t just concrete and glass; it’s also about attraction-driven demand. New and improved cultural and lifestyle venues have multiplied, drawing tourists and supporting short-term lets:

  • Arts & Entertainment: The recently-opened Invisible Wind Factory in Stanley Dock (hidden within the Titanic Hotel building) is a large industrial-style music and events venue. It has already hosted national acts and cemented Liverpool’s nightlife credentials. Nearby, the new Liverpool Film Studios (Littlewoods building) is transforming the city’s creative industry profile. This former department store is being turned into the “Hollywood of the North,” with several large sound stages and a food hall (construction began in 2024) – a project expected to generate around 4,000 jobs in the film/TV sector.
  • Food & Drink: Upmarket eateries and breweries are opening throughout the docks and Baltic/Ten Streets. For example, Carmine Bakery (an Italian bakery/café) and Azvex Brewery (craft beer) have opened near the waterfront, adding to the cultural scene. These small businesses make regeneration zones appealing to young professionals and tourists alike.
  • Festivals & Events: Liverpool now routinely hosts large international events. The Eurovision Song Contest in 2023 was a landmark – the city painted itself turquoise and welcomed ~160,000 visitors over 10 days (independently estimated). Major sports and music events also use the city’s venues: M&S Bank Arena (formerly Echo Arena) hosts big-name concerts (Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, etc.) and conferences, while Aintree’s Grand National (just outside Liverpool) brings tens of thousands of visitors by train and short-term lets each spring.
  • Beatles Tourism: Liverpool’s association with The Beatles remains a perennial draw. The Beatles Story museum on Albert Dock had ~190,000 visitors per year pre-pandemic. Beatles-themed tours and festivals (Cavern Club events, street sculptures) continue to fill hotel rooms and short lets year-round.

All of these cultural and event attractions translate into lodging demand. High-profile events can create short-term spikes in booking interest. Indeed, industry reports note that short-let hosts spiked their prices during Liverpool’s Eurovision 2023 and a recent Taylor Swift concert (leading to 60-70% occupancy on average). In year-round terms, Liverpool now hosts over 60 million visitors a year, with 6 million of those staying overnight and generating £6.25bn for the economy in 2023. This massive tourism economy underpins Liverpool short-term let demand, making short-term lettings a lucrative strategy in the right locations.

Short-Term Rental Demand: Stats & Market

Short-term rentals (Airbnb/holiday lets) are booming in Liverpool, thanks to the city’s attractions and events calendar. Recent data illustrate this:

  • Listings and Occupancy: The Liverpool Accommodation BID reports there are over 1,000 Airbnb properties listed in the city. These range from spare rooms to multi-bedroom waterfront apartments. Occupancy rates for top hosts are strong: industry data show Liverpool’s typical Airbnb occupancy (~54% annual on average) easily reaches 60–70% during event peaks (Eurovision, Grand National). (By comparison, Liverpool’s hotel sector achieved ~75% occupancy in 2023.)
  • Revenue: According to short-let analytics, the average annual revenue per Liverpool Airbnb is around £18–19K, with an ADR of about £96–£98. (Liverpool’s occupancy rate ~54% places it solidly above many UK city averages.) These figures translate to strong cashflow for investors.
  • Growth: The supply of short-term rentals in Liverpool has rebounded and grown post-pandemic. In 2024, demand for hotel rooms and rentals rose as big events returned. London has strict caps on short lets, so Liverpool benefits as a major UK city with relatively lenient regulations. In 2024 the Liverpool city region secured global events (like the World Boxing Championships) that will bring more visitors. Planners even note “the city can accommodate the additional [visitor] demand and still have availability left” thanks to a growing short-let supply.
  • Event impacts: Data from the Liverpool Accommodation BID highlight that Eurovision 2023 and other sell-out events led to a surge in listing entries and prices. The BID report observed that during these events, many hosts listed on Booking.com (not just Airbnb) and charged “surge” prices. The lesson is clear: event-driven demand in Liverpool is robust, but investors must price and market dynamically.

In summary, Liverpool’s short-let market is strong and growing. Aiming for ~60% occupancy (with seasonal highs) and an ADR around £100, a well-placed short-let property can outperform traditional rents. Charting and tables are available from city data (not embedded here due to format), but key takeaways are that Liverpool short-term let demand is high: around 6 million overnight visitors a year, and vacancy during major events is low. For visual context, Airbnb analytics cite Liverpool’s occupancy ~55% and over 3,000 listings (all platforms), underscoring the scale.

Universities and Long-Term Rental Demand

Liverpool’s position as a student city and employment hub also drives stable long-term rental demand. The city has three universities – University of Liverpool, Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), and Liverpool Hope University – with a combined enrolment of around 60,000 students. These students require housing, especially since Liverpool’s well-known affordable rents (among the UK’s cheapest student cities) encourage many to live off-campus.

Importantly, a substantial fraction of graduates stay in Liverpool after university. This student retention fuels demand for quality rentals beyond term-time. For example, LJMU reports that 95% of its graduates are in work or study within 15 months of graduating, and it supplies more graduates into the Liverpool economy than any other local university (28% of all grads in the region). Around half of LJMU’s graduates begin their careers in the city. These figures imply that a significant cohort of young professionals (“generation rent”) remains in Liverpool year-round.

Jobs growth in sectors like digital media, creative tech, and professional services means young workers are in the market for private rentals. Notably, long-term rental market indicators are already very tight: a Liverpool Business News analysis found that city-centre flats at Liverpool Waters and Princes Dock were almost fully occupied (95–100% occupancy). In fact, rental rates in Liverpool have been rising – inner-city rents jumped by 10–12% in a year as of 2023. This signals that even aside from students, working professionals and families are bidding up available rentals.

Thus, long-term rental demand in Liverpool is robust, supported by a growing local workforce and graduate retention. For an investor, this means that a modern apartment in a Liverpool regeneration zone can attract high-quality tenants on multi-year leases. Combined with short-let revenue opportunities, Liverpool properties can be let either way.

Investment Strategies: Short-Term vs Long-Term Letting

Given Liverpool’s mixed demand drivers, investors should carefully plan their property use. Two broad strategies emerge:

  1. Short-Term Let (STL) Strategy: Target visitors and event-goers with Airbnb-style lets. This requires ensuring a license (or short-let planning permission) and furnishing the property. The reward is often higher per-night income and flexibility. In central zones (Waterfront, Baltic, City Centre) or near venues (Arena, stadiums), occupancy can reach 70–80% during peak months. Key advice:
    • Location: Choose proximity to transport (stations, ferry), attractions (Waterfront, nightlife), or universities (for breaks).
    • Calibration: Raise rates around major dates (Eurovision, Grand National, football matches) to capture premium pricing. The Liverpool BID notes hosts charge surge rates for events.
    • Regulation: Liverpool has relatively lenient short-let rules, but always check licensing. Some investors keep a backup as a regular rental if needed.
  2. Long-Term Let Strategy: Aim for stable, multi-year tenancies (students or professionals). This involves potentially lower rent per month but less turnover risk. Important considerations:
    • Target Audience: Liverpool’s high student population (60k) and local employers means demand for 1-3 bedroom flats is strong. Student numbers boost ‘academic year’ demand; graduate and worker retention boost year-round.
    • Quality and Amenities: Modern finish, good broadband, proximity to universities/business parks are selling points. Buildings with gyms or good management often attract better tenants.
    • Capital Growth: Regeneration zones are expected to rise in value as projects complete. For example, surveys and news cite L8 residential properties near Liverpool Waters at <1% vacancy – indicating capital values likely to climb on buy-to-let assets.

Some investors adopt a hybrid approach: renting as short-term lets during high-demand weeks (conference season, holidays) and long-term the rest of the year. This maximises yield but requires careful management.

Short-Term vs Long-Term in Practice

To illustrate the dual strategy, consider a modern 2-bedroom apartment in Liverpool Waters (off Princes Dock). If let long-term to professionals at £1,500/month, it yields £18k/year. As a short-let, it could average £150/night (mid-range ADR) at 60% occupancy: £150 × 365 × 0.60 ≈ £32,850/year (before costs). That difference is significant, though effort and costs (cleaning, management) differ. In practice, vacancy (when tourist demand is down) must be managed. Some neighborhoods (Baltic Triangle) are seeing new purpose-built apartments that cater mostly to long-term lets, despite short-let interest. Investors must weigh regulatory factors and personal capacity to manage guests vs tenants.

In summary, Liverpool offers flexibility: high event-driven income for short-lets and solid baseline demand for long-lets. The best choice depends on investor goals. As Steve Rotheram (Metro Mayor) emphasises, Liverpool’s strategy is to “showcase the best of what we have to offer – from our stunning cultural landmarks to world-class events”. Property investment strategy should align: use short-lets to capitalise on events and tourism, and long-lets to capture the steady growth of the young workforce and student market.

Liverpool Regeneration: Conclusion

The Liverpool regeneration story – from Albert Dock’s revival to the unfolding Liverpool Waters project – has created a unique investment landscape. Massive projects (Liverpool Waters £5.5bn, Everton’s £750m stadium) ensure that the city’s profile and infrastructure will only strengthen. Tourism is surging (60m annual visitors), with cultural events and festivals generating short-term rental demand. At the same time, three universities and growing graduate retention fuel the rental market year-round.

For property investors, the key takeaway is that Liverpool supports both high-yield short-term lets and stable long-term tenants. Areas like Baltic Triangle, Ten Streets, and especially Liverpool Waters are at the heart of this growth. Indeed, we’ve seen this in action: at TK Property Group we have a completed a short-let approved apartment in the prime Liverpool regeneration zone.

If you’re considering entering the Liverpool regeneration market, our advice is to develop a clear strategy, whether short-term holiday lets or long-term rentals, based on property location and your investment goals. Our team at TK Property Group can guide you through this process. Just click here to get in touch.