Helping your clients build and release equity

When it comes to buying property, clients want advice from someone they can trust. From stepping onto the ladder to choosing their final home, a relationship with a mortgage adviser builds over almost a lifetime. But what happens when your clients reach retirement?

There could be more equity in your clients’ homes than cash in their pension pots. Releasing some of the equity you’ve helped them build over time could fund a better retirement, with advice from someone they trust.

Releasing equity with a lifetime mortgage

A lifetime mortgage is a type of equity release that can only be sold with advice. Taken as a tax-free lump sum or in smaller amounts over time, it’s a loan secured against your client’s home. The industry has been radically reformed over the last 25 years.

The Equity Release Council (formerly SHIP) has led the way in developing new codes of practice. These have helped to safeguard consumers and grow the market responsibly. Most significantly, the “no negative equity guarantee” means the loan can never exceed the value of the borrower’s home. This protects families from any debt when the last remaining homeowner dies or moves into long-term care.

Another standard set by the Equity Release Council gives the customer the right to stay in their home for life. These changes have boosted consumer confidence and helped the industry to shake off its negative reputation from the 1980’s style plans. In 2021, equity release lending reached £4.8 billion, six times greater than in 2011.

Opportunities in the lifetime mortgage market

The lifetime mortgage market continues to grow. Over 55’s unlocked £1.53 billion in housing wealth between January and March 2022, up from £1.34bn in Q4 2021. Although lending figures show no signs of slowing down, the number of advisers becoming qualified remains stagnant. It’s estimated that less than a quarter of advisers (23%) are equity release qualified. This presents a huge opportunity for your business to tap into a growing market.

Consumers need to connect with advisers they can trust. And with more people accessing their housing wealth than ever before, good advice has never been more important. Taking out a lifetime mortgage is a big decision but can help provide enough funds to support people living longer. When pension pots and savings can stretch no more, or your client is looking to diversify their retirement income, accessing property wealth could be an option.

As the market has grown so has the range of equity release products available. This has given consumers’ greater choice and flexibility. Some products allow regular interest payments to be made, while others offer inheritance protection at no extra cost.

Whatever your client’s plans and dreams for retirement, your advice can help them navigate the market to meet their needs. For some, it may be about that dream holiday. For others, it may be investing in their family’s futures, or adapting a home they can stay in for longer.

Here are just some of the ways your client could use a lifetime mortgage when they reach retirement:

Your advice is what matters

With better protection and more product choice – lifetime mortgages offer more possibilities than ever before. Your clients could be holding the key to driving away their dream car, helping a loved one buy a first home or finally fitting the kitchen they’ve always wanted. Whichever way it’s used, it’s your trusted relationship that can support them through the process. It’s you who can help them fulfil their later life goals.

Your client should be made aware that if they gift money away, the recipient may have to pay inheritance tax in the future.

It’s also important to remember that a lifetime mortgage creates a debt on the home. And if your client has more affordable ways of borrowing available, these should be considered first.