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Equity Release

Two-thirds of over-55s don’t ever want to have to move home

Christina Hoghton
Written By:
Christina Hoghton
Posted:
Updated:
20/02/2019

The majority of older homeowners love the home they live in, and don’t want to downsize

Two-thirds of over 55s do not want to downsize, even though a fifth are worse off than they thought they’d be, according to research by SunLife.

It also found that 55% of older homeowners cannot see themselves ever moving, with average respondents having lived in the same home for 20 years.

Simon Stanney, equity release service director at SunLife, said: “Our research shows that family homes hold a huge amount of happy memories. Most of our respondents have been in their homes for at least two decades, and in that time have celebrated hundreds of happy family occasions.

“And despite the fact that the over 55s are a property rich, cash poor generation, who could free up a lot of cash by downsizing, our research reveals that most cannot bear the thought of giving up their homes and with it, all the memories they had.

“On average, people over 55 have seen their homes increase in value by around £135k, so for people over 55 who own their own home and are looking for a cash lump sum, unlocking some of the value in their homes via equity release rather than by moving, could offer the solution.”