Growing numbers of homeowners are approaching retirement with paltry savings and meagre pensions, leaving them asset rich but cash poor. Nick Birdseye, strategic partner development director at Legal & General Home Finance, explains how retirees can tap into the funds in their home to achieve their retirement dreams. Retirement has changed significantly over the past 25 years. Not only is it lasting longer, but the final salary pension schemes that many people had in the past

European home movers snub the UK post-referendum due to uncertainty over freedom of movement The UK has fallen out of favour with home movers from the European Union since the referendum, according to reallymoving. The removals firm found that the the UK accounted for only 22% of all home movers leaving the EU in March 2019, compared to two thirds (66%) in June 2016. Analysis of over 100,000 international removals quotes by the firm demonstrated a ‘clear drop in intent to mov

First-time buyer numbers increased to their highest level in 12 years, driven by Government incentives and competitive mortgage deals. That’s according to trade body UK Finance which revealed the number of mortgages which were completed by buyers who were new to the property market soared in 2018, with the amount be loaned to them rising by nearly 5%. Schemes such as Help to Buy have been identified as being one of the key drivers of this rise in numbers. However, support has

Homeowners unlocked a record £1.08bn of property wealth in Q4, bringing the total across 2018 to £3.94bn, according to the latest Equity Release Council figures. 12,891 new equity release plans were agreed between October and December, contributing to an annual total of 46,397. Both these figures represent new highs and increases of 25% year-on-year. The 46,397 new plans agreed in 2018 via Council members were more than double the 22,749 seen three years ago, fuelled by a wid

How to release equity from your home Many of us are putting nothing away to help fund our old age and around half are not saving enough into our pensions for a comfortable retirement. If you bought your home a long time ago, you are likely to have benefitted from the boom in house prices during the early noughties, and even the recent price falls are unlikely to have dented your equity position too much. According to Halifax the average UK house price was £85,000 in 2000, com