Over four in five (84%) property professionals have said that they recognise the importance of the later life lending sector within the wider UK mortgage and residential property market, Countrywide Surveying Services (CSS) has found.

As part of these responses to the CSS webinar poll, over half (54%) said the later life lending sector was ‘very important’, with under a third (30%) expressing that it was ‘somewhat important’.

In contrast, only 5% said the sector was ‘not very important’, with over one in 10 (11%) implying that it was ‘neither important nor unimportant’.

Over 200 people engaged with the session, with the audience consisting of lenders, brokers, surveyors and other property professionals. The panel included director of risk, policy and compliance at the Equity Release Council, Kelly Melville-Kelly; head of underwriting at Just Group, Yvonne Turnbull; head of property risk at Rothesay, Andy McClaren; and director of technical services at Countrywide Surveying Services, Martyn Stones.

Managing director at CSS, Matthew Cumber, who chaired the webinar, said : "Given the shifting demographics of the UK population and changing attitudes, the later life sector will continue to provide a prominent route to funds in a way which has subtle differences to a more vanilla lending approach but one that can generate a significant longer-term impact.

"The topics covered in the webinar were certainly thought-provoking and it’s clear that property professionals and intermediaries have a desire to become more informed about an area of the market which will only continue to grow in importance in the years to come."

Delving deeper into later life product offerings, when quizzed on what equity release could be used for, 40% indicated home improvements, with 36% said to supplement income.

Almost a third (32%) said that equity release would be used to clear unsecured debt and 30% said that it would be used to capital raise for any legal purpose, such as tax bills, inheritance tax planning and holidays.

A further 26% cited to repay a mortgage, with the same proportion (26%) saying they would use this equity release to embark on a property purchase.

Melville-Kelly added: "These findings show just how vital an active later life market is for older homeowners. Given the average UK homeowner has £222,526 in equity, many will find property is their largest financial asset, able to bridge the gap between their pension savings and the challenges of later life when incomes typically decline.

"Modern equity release products provide more opportunity and flexibility for older homeowners to free up capital and boost their income without having to leave their homes if they don’t want to.

"Equity release should be a part of every later life financial planning conversation just as downsizing, other financial products and family support should be."

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