Housing market uncertainty begins to impact retiree property wealth

Total property wealth owned by over-65s who have paid off mortgages is now valued at £1.096 trillion – a fall from the £1,118 trillion recorded in February 2019. However on an annual basis retired homeowners still saw an increase of £5.445 billion.

This means that overall, retired homeowners saw their property wealth increase by more than £1,000 in the past year, but the national average masks regional divides.

The biggest winners are over-65s in the West Midlands who are nearly £7,500 better off than a year ago with retired homeowners in Wales (£6,560) and the North West (£6,297) also recording strong gains in the past 12 months.

Retired mortgage-free homeowners in London, however, have lost more than £1,000 a month in the past year while over-65s in the South East and East Anglia have also seen property wealth values drop. Scottish retired homeowners saw property wealth slip slightly.

Will Hale, CEO at Key said: “The ongoing uncertainty in the property market and the economy as a whole is having an impact on house prices but overall retired homeowners have still gained an average of more than £1,000 from their houses in the past year.

“Some parts of the country have experienced even bigger gains with the West Midlands, North West and Wales continuing to perform strongly. The basic fact is that no matter what happens month to month to house prices millions of over-65s will continue to hold considerable property wealth which can transform their standard of living in retirement and enable them to address a wide range of financial issues."