More than one in three over 50s said that tax breaks would encourage them to use equity release.
KRS’s pensioner property equity index revealed that over 65s owned £749.45bn of property without mortgages which could potentially be used to boost retirement income.
Support for the use of equity release in retirement has built recently with think tank The Smith Institute and the Financial Conduct Authority chairman Martin Wheatley both backing the use of property wealth to help fund long-term care.
Ged Hosty, managing director of equity release at Partnership, said: “If the government is serious about allowing the equity release market to develop and fulfil its potential to meet retired homeowners’ financial needs, especially the costs of social care, then it needs to provide direct encouragement for consumers to use it.
"One way would be some sort of tax incentive, perhaps similar to MIRAS which was available until the end of the 1990s, or possibly for providers to enable them to reduce the cost of funding.”
