Cheap UK town with £55k homes for sale getting a huge £150m transformation

One of the UK’s biggest property hotspots has been described as “full of untapped potential” despite the significant increase in house prices over the last year.

Skelmersdale has seen property prices increase by 8.4% in 2024, the fourth biggest increase in the country according to Rightmove.

Much of the town was developed in the post war era as the area was developed markedly in the 1960s to house the overspill of workers pouring out of nearby Liverpool and plans for a new 80,000 strong housing development was planned.

However, this was shortlived as economic downturn in the early 1970s meant that execution of the plans faltered and in 1975 and major employers abandoned the town.

But could the new house price increase be a sign of revival? While it may seem puzzling for a town with no high street or train station, locals believe its popularity with families is only just getting started.

Mark Kitts, Managing Director of Tawd Valley Development told the Express.co.uk of the huge £150m redevelopment plans for the town: “Skelmersdale is a great, affordable place to live situated bang on the M58 and well positioned for travel to Liverpool, Manchester and Preston.”

Tawd Valley Development is West Lancashire Council’s housing and commercial developer and aims to build 650 homes in addition to developing a high street and railway station.

He added: “In my view, the town would benefit massively by developing a sustainable form of travel to link the town with other areas and drive economic activity to complement the houses we build.

“The Skelmersdale master plans allows for 650 new homes to be built in and around the town centre utilising brownfield or developable land so much of the greenbelt is unaffected by the development.

“I think if we can then strengthen the offering of the concourse, (1960s shopping centre which serves as the town’s high street) and develop the public sector land around it, we can diversify the activity in the town and increase footfall.”

Mark is also keen to see a train station built in the town which is currently one of the biggest in the UK not to have one.

He added: “My view is that the town would benefit from sustainable travel infrastructure to link it to other places and drive economic activity to complement the 650 new homes we are planning on building.

“The place has so much to offer. You have Tor Valley running through the town centre which is great for leisure but also great for environmental activities which means it is another reason to better connect it.

“There are a collection of issues that need to be addressed in Skelmersdale and we want to create the canvas that everything else plugs into.”

The increase in house prices comes as no surprise to Frances Lowery, 27, a Sales Director in a local estate agents who believes the covid pandemic was a “game changer” for the area.

She said: “We have seen an increase since Covid. Before the pandemic, an average terraced house in the area would be around £70-80,000. After the first lockdown we had a property boom where a lot of people were moving out and putting their properties on the market.

“That combined with first time buyers itching to get on property louder put prices up by about 20%.”

Frances believes that new working habits that have become the norm since the pandemic have allowed people to look further afield, to places like Skelmersdale, when deciding where to live.

She added: “Skelmersdale in general is affordable housing so it does enable a lot of first time buyers, buyers with bigger families because a lot of the houses are at least three bedrooms.

“We’re seeing a lot of people moving out from places like Liverpool and Manchester and even from down south because what they can get here is so much more affordable and hybrid working means they don’t need to live in the big cities.”

Frances believes that the increase in house prices could be accelerated if long-touted plans for a train station to be built come to fruition.

She added: “Hopefully there will be a train station soon but we do have good bus routes that get you into Liverpool, Manchester and Ormskirk plus you’re also straight onto the M58 so despite the lack of a train station, there are still quite good travel links.

“But a train station would massively improve the area and would definitely push up property prices further.”

Although Skelmersdale is mentioned in the Doomsday Book, it was only in the 1960s that the area was properly developed as one of the government’s ‘new towns’ built to accommodate for the overspill from nearby Liverpool.

To an outsider, the town’s relative youth gives the impression that it is lacking something, its architecture and general aesthetics consisting solely of post-war convenience, devoid of the identity conferred on towns by their Victorian, Georgian or Edwardian remnants.

But for locals, that is to miss the point and fails to scratch beneath the surface. Abbi Murphy, 24, is a barista in the Concourse shopping centre who has recently returned to her hometown after finding that more storied and historic towns didn’t have the same feel.

She said: “I like it because it is quiet and peaceful with loads of green area with fields everywhere, that was the main reason that drew me back, it is very scenic.

“It is the kind of place that when you walk down the street, you can rely on people you don’t know to greet you with a smile and that means something.”