Retired homeowners have gained an average of £26,000 tax-free this year from their houses, according to new analysis from Key Retirement.
Total property wealth owned by over-65s who have paid off their mortgages grew to a new record high of £1.031 trillion in the past three months with average pensioner homeowners gaining more than £2,300 a month since January.
More than £114 billion has been added to the property wealth of the UK’s over-65 homeowners since the start of the year as the housing market continues to expand.
Since Key started analysing over-65s housing wealth in 2010 total pensioner property wealth has increased by around 34% or £266 billion which is worth around £60,300 on average for every homeowner. Owning a home has been worth around £9,300 a year for over-65s.
Key’s Pensioner Property Index shows only Scottish over-65s suffered falls in the value of their total property wealth in the past three months with all other areas recording strong growth; Londoners made £15,445 each while homeowners in the South West were around £6,275 better off. Whilst Scotland experienced a fall it was relatively minimal at £276.
The overall growth in property wealth underlines the growing role investing in homes is playing in retirement and is helping drive the expansion of the equity release market with customers benefiting from record low rates. Average equity release customers are taking out £75,900 in property wealth rising to £135,886 in London.
Dean Mirfin (pictured), technical director at Key Retirement.com said: “Property investment has earned £26,000 this year for over-65s homeowners highlighting the long-term benefits of owning a home.
“During a period of historically low interest rates and investment market volatility pensioners who have paid off their mortgages have been able to rely on steady tax-free returns from their home demonstrating the increasing importance of property to retirement planning.
“The equity release market is responding with new products and record low rates to enable more customers to make full use of their property investment and use their money for a wide range of purposes.”