Equity release options for UK homeowners double in last 12 months

Written by Editorial Team
Last updated: 8th February 2020

Good news for homeowners: if you’re wanting to access the value stored in the bricks-and-mortar of your home, you now have more equity release loan options to choose from than ever before.

You can now choose from a wide variety of variations, to suit your circumstances, or the factors that are most important to you. Including:

• Choose whether or not you repay the interest as you go.
• Make one-off capital payments.
• Ring-fence part of the value of your home as an inheritance for your children.
• Opt for downsize protection – so you can sell the property you’ve taken out equity release against, and repay the lending without any early repayment charges.
• Opt for drawdown protection: if you choose a drawdown lifetime mortgage (with an agreed sum of money you can borrow, accessed as an initial lump sum and then smaller amounts as and when you need them) the interest rate is usually only fixed on the initial lump sum. Now you can protect yourself against significant rate rises on the remainder of your borrowing capacity.

More flexibility and more options

In 2018 there were 161 different types of equity release borrowing plans you could choose from.

A year later, in October 2019, there were nearly double that number of options: 314 different types of equity release plans to choose from.

The biggest growth was in downsizing protection: the number of choices grew by 103%, reflecting borrowers’ concerns that they couldn’t predict their circumstances a few years ahead. Now you can be assured that you don’t have to stay in the home you’ve taken out equity release again.

Get good advice

Of  course, the increased number of options makes deciding on the right plan for you more difficult. So be sure to get professional, personal advice before making this important decision.

More information about equity release plans