The service is aimed at advisers and brokers who would like to offer equity release solutions to their clients but are not qualified to provide equity release advice themselves.
Adam Carnall, head of partnerships at Age Partnership, predicted that equity release will become an increasingly mainstream product over the coming years.
“All the signs are there for the equity release market in 2015 to significantly outgrow what was already a fantastic 2014, where sales were up 29% from the previous year. So far in 2015 we have already seen significant interest rate cuts and the launch of an important new brand with L&G announcing its entry into the market.”
Legal & General announced its intention to buy lifetime mortgage provider Newlife last month. The deal is due to complete sometime in the first half of 2015. The deal has led to L&G predicting it will write more than £100m of equity release business this year ‘and increasing amounts thereafter’.
Consolidation in the equity release market continued with Bower’s purchase of Sixty Plus earlier this month. Sixty Plus managing director David Wright will join Bower along with other advisers, meaning the total number of advisers working for the firm will have increased by 40% in the last year.
According to the Equity Release Council, lending in the equity release market reached pre-recession levels in 2014, surpassing the market’s previous high in 2007 by 14% to £1.38bn.
