According to data from later life sourcing platform provider Advise Wise, the loan sizes queried by borrowers were up both in the first half of the year and in Q2 alone.
Searches for lump sums in the first six months of the year showed the average amount required was £141,500, up from just under £110,000 last year, representing a 29% increase.
In Q2 alone, this rose 26% year-on-year from £112,950 to £142,800.
Among searches for drawdown products, the average loan queried in H1 rose by 17% to £67,820.
As for the business mix, lump sums made up the majority of searches at 57% of queries. However, this was lower than last year, when this borrowing made up 62% of searches.
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This research comes after Advise Wise partnered with Twenty7tec, recognising a future need for later life lending.
Research from Twenty7tec found that around 15% of first-time buyers were over the age of 40, and the proportion of those aged 51 and older had increased by 80% in the last five years, from 2% of first-time buyers to 3.6%.
Jonathan Thirkill (pictured), chief executive of Advise Wise, said: “Our latest figures and findings echo the positive statistics that have recently been released from the Equity Release Council and UK Finance, Additionally, the increase in average loan amounts being searched for tally with recent research from lifetime mortgage lender Pure Retirement – who saw 12% of new business coming from owners of properties worth at least £700,000 in Q2 – in underlining the way later life lending is appealing to a broad spectrum of demographic and wealth profiles.
“However, there remains untapped potential and ongoing work needs to take place to bring market volumes back to the levels seen at the market’s peak in 2022. Our recent partnership with Twenty7tec demonstrates the opportunity through integrating later life lending into holistic advice, and also underlines the growing interest by the mainstream financial advisers in lifetime mortgages.”
