Brokers must tackle client concerns: Hodge

The firm highlighted that with pension funds restricted due to poor stock exchange performance and with the ABI reporting a 3.9% decline in the volume of pension annuity and drawdown premiums, equity release remains a real alternative for funding retirement now.

Hodge suggested that regardless of the current decline in house prices, clients must be made aware that it is the value of their property in future years, when the loan is repaid, that matters and not its present price assessment.

Jon King, managing director of Hodge Lifetime, commented: "Over the long term there will always be times when house prices drop and the market re-adjusts to periods of exuberance. It occurred in the mid 1970s, early 1990s and is happening today. However, these periods of readjustment are often in themselves short lived and should therefore not be cited as a reason for clients to defer from the long-term benefits of equity release.

"A client's home is an appreciating asset and realistically provides a means to help fund retirement now. Those clients who can take a long term view of the market are well placed to embrace equity release and, with drawdown facilities and guarantees such as those offered by Hodge Lifetime, make use of a product that can help many older homeowners."