More than a quarter of working homeowners approaching retirement plan to use their house to help supplement retirement income, research from LV= reveals. Nearly half of all HIPpies, or the home in pension generation, say they would consider downsizing to a smaller property, or getting a mortgage over 70 such as an equity release product (17%) in order to access the money in their property during retirement.
But many over-50s are faced with the reality that their house may not be as valuable as they had once hoped, with 39% of working homeowners over 50 believing their property has decreased in value over the last three years by an average of £21,749 - a massive £58 billion collectively.
In order to maximise the money they could use from their property, 18% of working over 50s who believe their property value has fallen aim to wait for their property value to improve before considering using the equity to help fund retirement, and a further 9% plan to make improvements to their home to try and increase its value.
Despite the uncertainty in the housing market, more than half (54%) of working over 50s with children would recommend their child invests in property to fund their retirement.
