Knight Frank’s later life team will be headed by David Forsdyke.
Estate agency group Knight Frank has launched into the later life lending, advising on products like equity release and retirement interest-only mortgages.
Knight Frank’s later life team is headed by David Forsdyke, who joined from Surbiton-based broker Access Equity Release in April 2019.
Forsdyke, head of later life finance, said: “We are seeing older people look to release equity from their primary residence for a number of reasons, including helping children financially, making home improvements and enhancing their quality of living, or to take the holiday of a lifetime.
“At the same time, we have seen a steady decline in pensions and savings, with retired people in the UK often finding themselves asset rich, but cash poor.”
Over-55s hold around 75% of the UK’s property wealth.
Jason Ruse, head of Key Partnerships, said: “Knight Frank estate agents offering later life lending advice is an positive development for the equity release market.
“Not only does this provide additional customers with access to these products but it highlights to other estate agents the potential in the market.
“We’ve seen a 285% increase in the number of introducers signing up to offer their clients access to these products between 2016 – 2018 so while not all estate agents will be in a position to copy Knight Frank’s model, they can certainly help their customers.”
The number of people aged over-65 living in the UK is forecast to increase by 20% to 14.4 million by 2027.
