A Good Month for the Equity Release Market
In the equity release market, the month of April could be seen as a vital month with homeowners increasing equity in their properties, further calls for the Government to consider equity release schemes and a robust start to 2010 highlighted by SHIP.
After March finished on a positive note with news of a return to house price increases, April got off on an equally positive footing with the news that homeowners were increasing the equity in their homes. This laid the foundation for further calls to the Government to acknowledge equity release as a viable option for funding social care and retirement.
Following on from this, and perhaps further substantiating the need for the Government to recognise equity release, was the news that many homeowners approaching retirement were concerned that state pensions and benefits wouldn’t be enough in retirement.
SHIP Continue to Promote Equity Release
This though prompted Safe Home Income Plans (SHIP) to call for greater clarity between equity release and state benefits. They felt that, by accruing the opinions of clients and financial advisors, this could help shape a better understanding of the relationship between equity release and state benefits; which in turn would improve the image of equity release.
During the middle of the month, SHIP was once again busy recommending equity release when Director General, Andrea Rozario, claimed it made sense for homeowners to consider their biggest asset when it came to funding retirement.
Finally the month was drawn to a close with statistics showing that the equity release market had made a robust start to 2010. Although figures were slightly down on the last three months of 2009 there was a number of contributing factors, largely the adverse weather and the loss of some major providers.
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