Pooling resources and ideas to help raise awareness within the broker market must be a sensible way to go.
Paul Hunt is a marketing consultant
Figures released recently by Key Retirement (now rebranded to Key) stated that homeowners are raising £10m a day to release equity from their homes. The increasing numbers heading into or already in retirement being asset rich but cash poor is only set to increase this number and soon.
I don’t need to go into the various reasons why realising equity can be so important for customers, but with such an obvious demand, the question should be why isn’t more being released?
Chris Flowers at Pure Retirement has stated that although 9,000 advisers are regulated to sell equity release, only 500 to 1,000 are selling it each month. If this is correct, it obviously doesn’t help and immediately restricts growth in the traditional Equity Release market.
In recent weeks I’ve been talking to various lenders who have launched Retirement Interest Only products and first of all its great to see Building Societies like Vernon, Bath, Swansea etc., at the forefront of this potentially important product type.
However, a lot of work is needed to help educate brokers and give them confidence on these new products, as undoubtedly they could help many customers who may have considered equity release before and many who haven’t.
I know many of these lenders have finite resources for marketing, but by pooling resources and ideas to help raise awareness within the broker market, must be a sensible way to go.
RIO may having us dancing in the sand yet...
