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Equity Release

Older homeowners see property wealth grow by £800 a month post-stamp duty holiday

Christina Hoghton
Written By:
Christina Hoghton
Posted:
Updated:
22/10/2021

Pensioners have £1.256 trillion in property wealth and its rising rapidly

Over-65s saw their property wealth increase by more than £800 a month as the housing market benefitted from the stamp duty holiday, analysis shows.

Data from equity release adviser Key showed over the past six months property owned outright by over-65s has increased in value by £24.2bn, or £4,833 for each older homeowner.

Their total property wealth now stands at £1.256 trn with all parts of Great Britain benefiting apart from London, where property values fell as people looked to leave the capital and central London house prices underperformed. The biggest gains in the past six months were in Scotland and the South East with over-65s gaining more than £13,000 and nearly £12,000 respectively.

Property gains beat income growth

Since Key started analysing the mortgage-free property wealth of the over-65s in 2010, homeowners have seen growth of 61 per cent – a total of more than £476bn which is equivalent to around £95,000 per household over the past 11 years.

Most government data shows average weekly pensioner incomes after housing costs only rising £12 to £331 – the equivalent of 3.7 per cent – over the last 11 years. Pensioner couples have average incomes of £482 which is 6.8 per cent higher than 11 years ago while single pensioners’ average incomes are 4.5 per cent higher at £231.

Will Hale CEO at Key said: “The recent end of the stamp duty holiday may cool the property market somewhat but over-65s homeowners will continue to have a substantial amount of wealth tied up in their houses.

“The 61 per cent rise in the property wealth of over-65s over the past 11 years dwarfs single digit increases in average pensioner incomes over that period and underlines the case for advisers and customers considering all assets when looking at financial planning at and through retirement.”

London misses out

The only region to see property values drop in the past six months was London where average prices are around £6,647 lower. All other regions saw growth of at least £1,000. More than a fifth of all property wealth held by over-65s is in the South East, with the South West and East Anglia seeing the next biggest rises.