Tag Archives: homes
UK retired home owners sitting on property wealth of £874 billion
Retired home owners in the UK have seen their property wealth grow by more than £12.5 billion in the past three months as house prices continue to climb, new research claims. It means that owning a property has earned the average pensioner nearly £900 a month, according to the retirement pensioner property index from over 55s financial specialist Key Retirement. Pensioners who own their homes outright have gained an average of £2,680 each from their houses in the past three months taking their property wealth to a new record high. In the five years since the firm started monitoring the housing wealth of the over 65s, in January 2010, total pensioner property wealth has increased by 12% or £93.85 billion which equates to £20,000 on average for every home owner. The index shows over 65 home owners now own property wealth of £873.77 billion outright with pensioners across almost all of the UK benefiting. The analysis from the report also suggests that the growth in property prices will drive expansion of the equity release market which enables home owners to release wealth from their homes. Retired home owners in London were the biggest winners gaining an average of around £16,260 each in the past three months, while home owners in Scotland are more than £8,650 better off and pensioners in Yorkshire and Humberside are £4,063 better off. However retired home owners in Wales saw a fall in housing wealth with average losses of £2,230 in the three months while the North West and West Midlands also saw house price falls. The figures show nearly a fifth of all pensioner property equity is owned by over 65s in London with total wealth of £173.683 billion. Nearly two thirds of pensioner property wealth is concentrated in London, the South East, the South West and East Anglia. ‘Retired home owners have huge assets in their houses with total property wealth hitting another all-time high of £873 billion highlighting the growing importance of housing for retirement planning,’ said Dean Mirfin, technical director at Key Retirement. ‘No matter what happens in the property market home owners will always have a major asset which should be considered as part of retirement planning. Innovation in the equity release market and the launch of pension freedoms are opening up more ways for homeowners to use their property wealth, he explained. ‘Retired home owners, and those approaching retirement, should take advice on how their property wealth can generate additional capital and/or income. Advisers and lenders need to focus on a holistic approach to retirement planning which ensures that property wealth is considered alongside pension savings and other investments,’ he added. Continue reading
UK house builder vows to create bird friendly home developments
A unique partnership between a home builder and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds aims to see more wildlife friendly housing developments being built in the UK. Barratt Homes has signed an agreement, believed to be the first of its kind in the country, with the RSPB to boost natural habitats at its forthcoming homes developments in Nottinghamshire using updated landscaping and gardening techniques. As the country's urban wildlife struggles, with 60% of bees, birds, bugs and mammals facing decline, it is hoped that this agreement between the major home builder and the bird protection charity will help boost biodiversity. ‘With hundreds of thousands of homes needed across the country in the next few years, now is the time for conservationists and home builders to pull together to ensure the wildlife is boosted rather than ousted in the process,’ said Mike Clarke, chief executive of the RSPB. ‘We are confident that many positive steps can be taken to build wildlife into new housing developments, giving nature and people a home and increasing quality of life, and all relatively simply and cheaply,’ he added. The partnership will also see Barratt Homes working with the RSPB to raise employee awareness of wildlife friendly best practice across its sites in the region and throughout its supply chain nationally. ‘Our partnership with the RSPB will demonstrate how we can protect and enhance the biodiversity of the local area, benefitting the economy, creating employment and improving health and wellbeing for our customers and the communities we create,’ said John Dillon, managing director of Barratt Homes North Midlands. He pointed out that Barratt Homes prides itself on creating exceptional homes in the finest locations and recently achieved the maximum five star house builder rating in a customer satisfaction survey conducted by the Home Builders Federation (HBF). Continue reading
UK mortgage industry urged to do more for older buyers
The mortgage industry in the UK must better respond to the challenges of an ageing society and fit in with the increasing number of retirees taking out loans for homes, it is suggested. Speaking at a conference organised by the Council of Mortgage Lenders, David Sinclair, director of the International Longevity Centre-UK (ILC-UK), urged the industry to ensure they do not discriminate on basis of age alone. Sinclair also urged older people to think very carefully before looking to buy to let and an investment option to give them a return on their pension savings. He welcomed the work being done by the CML on this topic and urged the industry body to continue to work with providers to ensure they are better equipped to respond to the challenges of demographic change. Since 2010, both the number and percentage of mortgages extending into retirement has increased and ILC-UK research in 2014 revealed that the average housing wealth of retirees is £122,000 or £1.4 trillion in total. While lending criteria has been tightened across the board as a consequence of first the credit crunch and then the MMR, ILC-UK says that this may not fully explain the rising numbers of people who appear to be excluded from the mortgage market purely on the basis of age. Sinclair said that broader demographic trends, financial insecurity and public policy change is resulting in increasing numbers of people needing to take a mortgage into retirement but property investments can be risky and they do not guarantee returns. ‘The industry and the regulatory environment have been seemingly struggling to respond to ageing and demographic change. We are, however, very pleased to see that the industry have begun to respond to these challenges through the important work being led by the CML,’ Sinclair told the conference. ‘We are living longer, our family structures are changing, we are marrying later and we are working longer. At the same time, financial insecurity will result in more people needing to borrow more and later in life. We should be particularly worried about those retirees with interest only mortgages but no linked investment,’ he pointed out. He explained that whilst the introduction of pension freedoms could be a boon to the buy to let sector, older people should make sure they take advice before making the jump and with older people holding almost £1.4 trillion in wealth in their homes, equity release is going to be an attractive way of supplementing a pension for many. ‘The industry needs to ensure that the income poor asset rich pensioners are well served by this market. That said, the recent growth in the number of people aged 55 to 64 taking equity release is potentially very worrying,’ he added. Sinclair also called on the industry and government to work to address the fear of borrowing faced by many income poor, asset rich customers and to work together to ensure that individuals have access to advice. He added… Continue reading
