All eyes on equity release

The equity release market is growing rapidly for the first time since 2007 when the market reached its peak. New figures from the Equity Release Council show that lending totalled £325.6m in the second quarter of 2014, the largest amount for any quarter in almost a decade since the total value of new plans reached £350.2m in Q4 2004. The total value of equity release lending in the first six months of 2014 hit £641.2m. This is the largest sum on record for the first half of the year, and a 34% increase on 2013 as more people aged 55-plus draw on their housing equity to boost their fin...