Astonishingly, recent research has found that people over the age of 55 in England have more wealth in their homes than the annual GDP of Italy.<\/p>\n
Age Partnership, retirement income advisors, have found that the equity locked up in English homes belonging to the over 55s stands at around \u00c2\u00a31.5 trillion – compared to Italy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00c2\u00a31.4 trillion of GDP.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 This figure includes 39 percent who have completely paid their mortgage.\u00c2\u00a0 It is a conservative estimate, however, as a great many people will have significant equity in their homes after decades of repaying their mortgages.<\/p>\n
In addition, over the next twenty years, the numbers of over-55s are expected to grow by a third.\u00c2\u00a0 This indicates that by the year 2036, excluding inflation, the house wealth figure is likely to rise to \u00c2\u00a31.9 trillion.<\/p>\n
Retirement homebuilders have also found that 36 percent of the 65s and over \u00e2\u20ac\u201c over 4 million people – are downsizing to smaller homes, with almost 16 percent of those looking to move to the South East of England.\u00c2\u00a0 The South West, at 10.4 percent, and North West with over 12 percent, are the other two areas with high levels of over 65 year olds relocating to smaller properties.\u00c2\u00a0 There is, however, a significant shortage of houses to downsize to – particularly bungalows, which are currently commanding a premium of 16 per cent over houses.<\/p>\n
In the UK, the percentage of over 60s living in retirement homes or communities (1 percent) is a fraction of that for the same age group living in the USA (17 percent) and Australia and New Zealand (13 percent).<\/p>\n
Clive Fenton, the chief executive of McCarthy and Stone, believes that the lack of appropriate retirement provision is down to the Government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s focus on first-time buyers, and that their current policies do not address the lack of suitable retirement housing essential to meet the needs of the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s growing older population.<\/p>\n