Integrating housing wealth into long-term financial planning can help solve the problem of a lack of lending to people who are in retirement, Simon Chalk has said.
The equity release specialist for provider Age Partnership said many people who had been cut out of the mortgage market, for example unable to remortgage to pay down other debt, have been able to use equity release.
He said: “People who have been cut out of the mortgage market have been able to use equity release to pay off their outstanding debt. Meanwhile, flexible new products mean customers can make repayments to reduce any debt roll-up.
“While it gets harder for people to get mortgages as they get older, the opposite is true of equity release. The older you are, the more money you can take and the cheaper rates you can access. Integrating releasing housing wealth into long-term financial planning has many advantages and can help solve this growing burden.”
His comments followed the publication last week of the 30-page Building Societies Association report, Lending into Retirement, which recognised the changing needs of homeowners and called on the industry to find a way to cater for a rising number of pensioners seeking mortgages.
Adviser view
Dean Mirfin, technical director for Milton-Keynes headquartered Key Retirement, said: “Advice and innovation are crucial to addressing the growing demand for lending into retirement and it is encouraging to see building societies taking up the challenge.
“There has to be more interplay between product design, innovation and, most importantly, the advice provided, especially as people age.”
