Equity Release Loans See Dramatic Increase
The number of equity release loans being taken out by retired individuals and those approaching retirement in the UK, has seen a significant increase over the course of this year so far, according to the latest sales figures from Just Retirement.
The equity release loan specialist lender has seen the number of loan sales increase by around 23 per cent for the twelve months leading up to the end of June this year, compared with the figures for the same time last year.
Overall, the specialist lender released around £242 million in new equity release loans over the course of the twelve months to June this year, with around £67.4 million worth of loans in the three months leading up to June.
Whilst many retired people are using equity release loans to help fund their retirement, a growing number of individuals are using the funds released to repay other, more expensive debts on things like outstanding home owner loans, unsecured loans and credit card debts.
Another popular use of equity release loans is to help provide a deposit for a home owner loan for children and grandchildren, with more and more retired people effectively passing their equity down the generations to those who need it most.
Just Retirement feel that there is still a large amount of growth to come in future years from the equity release loan market, as more individuals rely on the equity which they have built up in their homes, particularly due to the lack of more conventional retirement planning in recent years.
Rodney Cook of Just Retirement said “We remain convinced that this market has significant long term growth potential that will become more apparent as other distributors with strong consumer brands enter the market place and as further innovation materialises following the proposals outlined in the Dilnot report.”
