Greater economic uncertainty along with growing financial pressure has led to an overall shift towards people using their money to cover everyday costs rather than luxury items.
Wilson said: “Since the government announced its stamp duty holiday, we have seen another emerging trend with more customers using equity release to purchase property.”
He went on to explain that in a normal month, it is expected that 5% of all customers release equity to purchase property.
However, he noted that this figure has risen to 15%.
He added: “Meanwhile, the number of borrowers who are porting their existing lifetime mortgage to a new property has also increased significantly.”
Using equity release when buying a property helps older people to increase their buying power so they can move to a more suitable property in the area they desire.
Wilson said: “It is no surprise that as older homeowners look to take advantage of the stamp duty holiday, we have seen a substantial increase in house purchase cases.
“However, this is a largely underused benefit of equity release and later life advisers should work in collaboration with lenders to learn more about how it can help their clients.”
