Stuart Wilson: COVID-19 has changed equity release customers' spending | Mortgage Introducer

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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.”