Equity release to become mainstream

Commenting on equity release sales as revealed by SHIP’s official Q1 2010 figures, Aviva’s Dominic Fraser-Smith, said: “The latest SHIP figures reveal a slight market contraction from Q4 2009 to Q1 2010 (213.4m in Q1 2010, £231.7 in Q4 2009). However, we believe that this slight fall in market size is purely due to providers dropping out of the market as opposed to a fall in demand for equity release products.

“At Aviva we are fully committed to the equity release market and have ourselves had a very positive start to the year. We also believe that the ageing UK population and ongoing shortfall in pension provision will undoubtedly lead to equity release becoming a mainstream retirement funding vehicle in the future as demand for these products continues to increase.

“As the market stabilises during 2010 and existing providers begin to once again expand their product offering, we expect to see the market recover and possibly some new entrants joining the market again.”