Despite a sluggish start to 2023, the later life market shows promising signs of regaining stability as it steps into the second half of the year, according to Mike Taylor, the managing director of Air.
Speaking at the National Later Life Conference, currently taking place today (29th June) at the British Motor Museum in Gaydon, Taylor pointed out that factors such as inflation, an unpredictable economy, and international conflicts have all contributed to the deceleration of the sector.
He notes that this year has seen fewer customers in the later life sector and anticipates the total market size for 2023 to range between £3bn and £4bn.
However, Taylor also believes the market may have turned a corner and is poised to reap benefits. “It’s not all a negative picture,” said Taylor. “What we saw in the second quarter of the year was recovery. We’ve seen the [number of] average customers increasing week on week.
“We’re now back towards the same numbers we saw last year. Calls and enquiry numbers are similar to last year.
“There feels like there is some recovery and the market is returning to some kind of norm.”
2022 was a milestone year for later life lending with a record 93,421 homeowners aged 55 or older using new or existing lifetime mortgages.
However, the equity release market experienced a significant downturn in Q1 2023 as the number of new and returning customers declined to 16,691, marking a 19% decrease from Q4 2022 and a 29% drop compared to the previous year.Â
A total of £699m was lent in the quarter, the lowest figure since Q2 2020.
