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SHIP: Equity release boom 'just a matter of time'
26 March 2008 12:00
The regulatory body for equity release providers has predicted that a boom is imminent in the sector as conventional ways of providing an income in retirement flounder.
A recent report by the Council of mortgage lenders (CML) claimed that, given the strength of the market's fundamentals, the take-up of equity release plans should be rising at a greater rate than the 3.9 per cent growth seen in 2007.
Yet Andrea Rozario from Safe Home Income Plans (SHIP) has insisted that a high number of people are already planning on using their homes to fund their retirements due to the decline in private pension provision and the inadequacy of state benefits.
She said that all that is needed to stimulate further take-up is for consumers to recognise the huge recent improvement in equity release plans, adding that there is no reason why their popularity in Britain cannot catch up with demand levels in the US and Australia.
SHIP did concur with the CML's assertion that growth would accelerate if the larger mortgage lenders entered the sector, but forecast that realities in the property market would actually compel these giants to diversify and offer equity release plans eventually.
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