Sixty-somethings own quarter of UK's £4trillion property wealth
People in their 60s own a quarter of all of the UK's £4.01trillion property wealth, researchers have found.
Properties belonging to this age group equated to £993 billion, according to LV='s annual home is pension report, which looked at retirees using bricks and mortar to pay for life after work.
Some 52% of those in their 60s have been considering accessing cash from their property to help fund their retirement, the study discovered.
Close to 200,000 of those aged 55 and over have released cash from their property or downsized in the past 12 months as part of their retirement plans, LV= reported.
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The report found that the value of the average property owned by sixty-somethings is £272,000 - £6,000 higher than the national average.
Three quarters of people within this age group were mortgage free, and one in 12 owned a second home.
The rise in people using their property to fund their retirement was likely to have been driven by increasing house values over a long period, combined with the low interest rates available on savings that has reduced retirement income, the pensions firm concluded.
It said 19% of homeowners in their late fifties planned to use the equity in their main residence because they have not saved enough into their pension.
In the past 12 months, 114,000 of those aged 55 and over took out equity release, with a further 76,000 having freed up cash in their property by downsizing.
Of those who have released equity from their home, 38% said the cash will be used to supplement their retirement income and 4% will use the money to cover their own care costs.
Richard Rowney, managing director of Life & Pensions at LV=, said: "Small pension pots, a lack of retirement savings, and the continuous rise in house prices are undoubtedly factors that have led to a rise in the number of people using their home to boost their retirement income.
"Indeed, if someone has lived in their property for a long time the capital they can access from it will often outweigh the pensions savings they have.
"With people spending longer in retirement one of the challenges that many will need to overcome is how to fund it and how to meet the financial demands they may face in later life, including long-term care and the money tied up in their home may present them with a solution."