I recently attended a web-chat on Equity Release which was streamed live on a number of consumer websites including the Independent online and moneywise. I was really surprised by the extent of the interest from consumers and the wide range of questions we received.

The Webchat was organised on the back of our recent research which looked into how many people are considering using their homes towards their pension.

The figure that was most quoted in the press in the days following the release was that a whopping 1.2 million of over 50s are planning to cash in their property to help fund retirement.

Then, over half (54%) of working over 50s with children would advise them to invest in property for their retirement too; just greater than the number that would recommend their children pay into a pension (53%).

The little mentioned fact is that 44% of over-50s in work still have a mortgage to pay…and this just reminded me how many of these people will still have to finance that mortgage when they actually retire.

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I sat reading these stats back to myself and I couldn’t help thinking whether in fact it is mortgage advisers who are acting, perhaps unwittingly as retirement planners, and certainly could well be more in-tune with consumer thinking than the, hopefully shrinking, number of IFAs who don’t factor in housing equity when retirement planning.

Going back to the stats – of those planning to use the equity in their home, nearly a quarter (22%) believe this is now their best option, because their pension savings won’t give them the income they hoped it would, with 13% saying it’s all they have to rely on after the state pension. But interestingly, two-thirds (64%) said they had always planned to use their property for their retirement; the majority by selling but with 12% already planning to release equity.

So what sort of questions was I asked on this webchat? Well, questions ranged from whether equity release was possible, where a couple had divorced but they were both on the mortgage, to whether particular property types were suitable for equity release. And I was particularly interested to note how many of the questioners were the children of potential equity release customers not the potential borrowers themselves. Some were looking for reassurance around the products and the decision to release equity, but one questioner really sparked my interest when I realised the thrust of the question was how he could encourage his mother to release equity because she needed the money and the family didn’t. I wanted to shriek ‘get an adviser round’. Luckily, I’m not one to shriek but I did encourage them to think about how an adviser could take him and his mother through all the options, including equity release and, most importantly, explain how it all works as the crux of the question was that lack of knowledge and information had paralysed mother into doing nothing.

So there are a lot of people out there desperate for help with their equity release problems but as yet I am not convinced we have mastered the art of reaching them.

This is despite the fact that when we asked advisers who came to our roadshows earlier in the year, 252 out of 256 agreed that equity release is a growing area given the needs of today’s aging population.

Mortgage brokers, particularly those working in smaller communities, could find that by adding equity release to the areas of advice they cover, will not only benefit from further diversification of their business model – they will also find they are offering a much needed resource to their community. And when considering how to access these potential clients, it is also worth reflecting that many of their clients will be the children of 1.2 million over 50s planning to cash in their property to help fund retirement – of these, of course many people will sell and downsize – but some will then take equity release on their downsized property. And most of them will want to know how they can help their parents work through the options that are open to them.

So the opportunity is there – and advisers already in this space see the opportunity only growing so when completing your business plans for 2011 it is well worth considering whether your business model would benefit from the inclusion of equity release.

Vanessa Owen is head of equity release at LV