Pensioner property wealth hits record high
New figures show that over-65 homeowners now own property wealth of £861 billion.
Retired homeowners in the UK now collectively own property worth £861 billion with their total property wealth increasing by more than £33 billion in the past six months, the equivalent of around £1,200 a month each.
New research from over 55s financial specialist Key Retirement Solutions says that their total property wealth is now at its highest level since the firm started monitoring the housing wealth of the over 65s five years ago, with pensioners who own their homes outright having earned an average of £7,117 each from their homes in the past six months.
Since Key started monitoring the housing wealth of the over-65s, in January 2010, total pensioner property wealth has increased by £81.27 billion – the equivalent of £17,323 each.
Its Pensioner Property Equity Index shows over-65 homeowners now own property wealth of £861.188 billion outright as a result of higher property prices across most parts of the UK.
Retired homeowners in London saw the biggest gains, at an average of over £20,675 each in the past six months, while homeowners in the South East are more than £14,123 better off and pensioners in East Anglia are £13,105 better off.
Only retired homeowners in the North East saw a fall in housing wealth with average losses of £581 in the six months.
Key’s figures show almost a fifth of all pensioner property equity is owned by over-65s in London with total wealth of £167.731 billion. Nearly two thirds of pensioner property wealth is concentrated in London, the South East, the South West and East Anglia.
“Retired homeowners have huge assets in their houses with total property wealth hitting an all-time high of £861 billion,” said Dean Mirfin (left) of Key Retirement. “In the past five years they’ve made an average of more than £17,000 each from their homes.”
The table below shows the 11 areas of Great Britain monitored by Key’s index with 10 recording gains.
| Region | Average change in value of home equity for homeowners aged 65+ (between August index and February index) | Combined change in value of home equity for homeowners aged 65+ (between August and February index) |
| London | increase of £20,675 | +£7.567 billion |
| South East | increase of £14,123 | +£9.264 billion |
| South west | increase of £6,152 | +£3.854 billion |
| North west | increase of £3,956 | +£2.654 billion |
| East Anglia | increase of £13,105 | +£6.185 billion |
| East Midlands | increase of £3,954 | +£1.704 billion |
| West Midlands | increase of £2,139 | +£766.167 million |
| Scotland | increase of £3,075 | +£867.15 million |
| Yorks/Humbs | increase of £709 | +£204.671 million |
| Wales | increase of £1,823 | +£482.365 million |
| North East | £581 decrease | -£159.77 million |
| Great Britain | +£7,117 | +£33.392 billion |
The table below shows over-65 homeowners in the North West are most likely to own their home outright – Key’s analysis shows 671,000 own their homes without mortgages compared with 656,000 in the South East.
| Region | Estimated property equity in homes owned outright by people aged 65+ (February 2015) | Estimated percentage of total value of property equity belonging to people aged 65+ (February 2015) | Number of households in the region owned outright by people aged 65+ |
| London | £167.731 billion | 19.48% | 366,000 |
| South East | £158.904 billion | 18.45% | 656,000 |
| South West | £117.194 billion | 13.61% | 626,600 |
| East | £94.836 billion | 11.01% | 472,000 |
| North West | £76.400 billion | 8.87% | 671,100 |
| East Midlands | £57.342 billion | 6.66% | 431,200 |
| West Midlands | £49.232 billion | 5.72% | 358,400 |
| Scotland | £46.585 billion | 5.41% | 282,000 |
| Yorks/Humbs | £34.461 billion | 4% | 288,600 |
| Wales | £31.556 billion | 3.66% | 264,600 |
| North East | £26.942 billion | 3.13% | 275,000 |
| GREAT BRITAIN | £861.188 billion | 4,691,500 |
