The average price of a property in the South East is £374,000, creating £148.9bn of potential equity for the region, the largest available equity by region in the UK.
An estimated £766.3bn of equity was available for release in UK homes in Q4 2021, according to analysis of the Halifax HPI by Canada Life.
This was an increase of over £25bn in three months, and the first time the figure has exceeded this milestone.
The average price of a property in the South East was £374,000, creating £148.9bn of potential equity for the region, the largest available equity by region in the UK.
This was closely followed by London, where the average price was £525,000, with £140.5bn of total potential equity.
Property prices in Wales, the North West and South West saw the largest growth in Q4, growing by 5.8%, 5.0% and 4.2% respectively.
Wales was found to have £29.9bn of potential equity available, or almost £72,000 per household.
In the North West there was almost £66bn available, equating to £74,000 per household, and in the South West £77.8bn of available equity equated to £100,000 available to release per household.
Londoners had the highest amount of equity available per household, with £183,000 available on average, followed by the South East (£131,000) and East Anglia (£111,000).
Homeowners in the North East and Yorkshire had the least amount of equity available per household with £55.800 and £67.200 available on average.
Alice Watson, head of marketing and insurance at Canada Life, said: “Q4 has shown incredible growth in property prices across the country.
"As a result homeowners have greater opportunities to support their retirement planning and aspirations with their growing household equity.
“The diverse nature of equity release products mean that they can be used to meet a range of evolving needs.
"Whilst releasing equity from a property remains a very significant and individual decision it has a valuable role to play in helping today’s homeowners live the retirement they’ve worked long and hard for.
"With the right advice, equity release has proven it can help people to access their property wealth flexibly and safely.”
