Pensioners own property worth £768.95 billion

Retired homeowners have total property wealth owned outright of £768.95 billion as the housing market edged up in the past three months, new research from leading over 55’s specialist adviser Key Retirement Solutions shows.
 
Homeowners aged 65-plus gained a total of £1.178 billion – equivalent to an average £251 each, Key Retirement Solutions’ Pensioner Property Equity Index found.
 
The rise in property equity owned by over-65s reverses two quarters of declines but still leaves the total property wealth held by pensioners below the £771 billion achieved in August 2012.
 
And the national increase masked major differences across the country with the over-65s in London seeing gains of nearly £12,000 in their home equity while retired homeowners in the North West suffered drops of more than £4,190 in the same period.
 
Retired homeowners in Scotland saw average gains in property wealth of more than £3,000 each while in Yorkshire and Humberside average gains were more than £1,180.
 
However in the South East of England retired homeowners lost an average £1,567 as house prices fell and over-65s in the East lost more than £850 each on average.
 
Despite house market volatility Key Retirement’s figures show nearly 36% of pensioner property equity is owned by over-65s in London and the South East. In London over-65s own property without any mortgages worth £137.09 billion while in the South East pensioners own £136.76 billion of property without mortgages.
 
Dean Mirfin, Group Director at Key Retirement Solutions, said:

“The rise in pensioner property equity is very welcome after two quarters of decline and there are real bright spots with pensioners gaining an average of nearly £12,000 from their homes.
 
“Despite the major differences across the country such as homeowners in the North West losing £4,190 the essential fact remains that pensioners are literally sitting on a major asset.
                                                                                                          
“Whatever the trend in the housing market, even for those regions experiencing falls, over-65s own considerable property wealth which represents a massive investment success as they no longer have mortgages on homes they may have bought more than 25 years ago.