Key Retirement Solutions figures show the total value of housing wealth released soared to £446m from £385.68m a year ago. Over the same period the numbers using property wealth to clear their own debts dropped to 25% from 31%.
Total lending in the first six months increased 15.7% to £446.21m and would have topped £630m if £185m of untapped drawdown funds which have yet to be released are added in.
Plan sales rose 10.7% to 9,288 in the six months compared with 8,387 for the same period of 2011.
Drawdown sales made up 65% of total sales in the first half compared with 55% for the whole of 2011 in addition enhanced sales, both drawdown and single advance, made up 9% of the market.
Dean Mirfin, group director at Key Retirement Solutions, said: “Retired homeowners are putting families first as the recession continues to squeeze finances across generations.
“Helping out family is a powerful motivation for elderly homeowners and it is striking that they feel financially secure enough to help families before themselves and are under less financial pressure from their own debt.
“The equity release market is firmly back on the growth track with total values released up 15% in the first half of the year while sales of plans are also well ahead of 2011. The ongoing innovation in the market is driving growth with drawdown taking a crucial role.”
Home and garden improvements remained the most popular use of equity release cash – 58% of customers used some or all of the cash for that with 30% using money to fund holidays. Only 16% used money to pay regular bills.
Across the country 10 out of 12 regions saw growth in the total number of plans sold with the North seeing growth of 46% and Northern Ireland seeing growth of 32%. The regions recording falls were London with 1.4% and Wales with 1%.
The biggest growth in values released was in London where total value increased by 45.3% while the South East saw totals climb by 23.7%. In total 9 out of 12 regions saw increases.
