It’s been heartening to see encouraging figures emerge from the Equity Release Council recently, suggesting that the market has once again hit pre-pandemic levels and is on track to surpass £4bn of total lending for the year.
It follows on from the promising sentiments expressed from financial advisers as part of research released earlier this year, where 94% of those questioned were confident in the outlook of the market over the next twelve months – a noticeable increase from the 71% who felt the same about the residential market. Many felt that ongoing product innovation was going to be a key point of focus, and that prediction has been borne with ongoing, increased flexibility. For example, 14% year-on-year rise in the number of products allowing voluntary capital repayments (68% vs 54%) and a marked six-month rise in the number of products offering fixed ERCs, with a figure of 89% to the end of July comparing favourably against the 56% recorded at the end of January.
Looking at those figures, it’s indisputable that the market is constantly innovating, leading not only to greater product choice but also to greater flexibility when it comes to post-completion features and options, and which is servicing an ever-more diverse range of customers. As a result, it’s imperative that advisers have ready access to all of the necessary information to both best understand their customers, but also to best serve them. With this in mind, and with the pandemic having made it more vital than ever that people are finding the right retirement solution, we’ve invested heavily in ensuring that advisers have ready access to a wealth of information streams to support them in making informed decisions on behalf of their clients.
This has manifested itself largely in a comprehensive programme of events (both virtual and face-to-face) including our Unplaceables webinar series with seeks to help our adviser network find solutions on difficult cases. Additionally, it’s also culminated in us working closely with the Equity Release Council to develop an updated 2021 version of The Adviser Guide To Equity Release to ensure that financial advisers have appropriate materials available to them from their entry to the market and beyond.
The latest edition of the Adviser Guide builds on and updates the successful 2016 edition to continue being a valuable resource that resonates with the wider market, with additional content on topics such as vulnerable customers, business development resources, fact-finding best practices, and producing suitability reports. As a result, the ensuing document feeds into a shared belief between ourselves and the ER Council that the sector needs to not only be a hotbed of innovation that delivers attractive retirement solutions to consumers, but also a supportive environment to help financial advisers to develop (and ultimately best serve their clients).
