Property assets on the rise

02/03/2007

British pensioners have, between them, benefited in property price rises to the tune of £103.09 billion over the past 12 months, according to the latest figures from HomeWise Retirement Properties' Pensioners Property Equity Index. That equates to an astonishing £282 million a day or £196,000 a minute.

The specialist retirement property firm say that the nation’s 6.3 million retired homeowners have gained on average around £16,265 each in property wealth over the past twelve months. The total equity tied up in homes owned by over 65s has now hit £1.2 trillion for the first time.

Retired homeowners have benefited substantially from the strong performance of the property market over the past twelve months. However, with the average annual disposable income of a single pensioner in the region of only £12,000, the company warns that many “equity rich” retired homeowners may actually feel less well off as the cost of living rises.

This is helping to fuel the rise in numbers of people downsizing, renting or releasing the equity in their home through the wide range of schemes now on the market.

The largest year-on-year increases were in London and East Anglia – where properties appreciated by an average of over £20,000. The North East saw the smallest gains, of around £3,647.