While the Covid-19 pandemic highlighted some major vulnerabilities in the equity release market, it has adapted to the new restrictions at great pace. Such changes have included the removal of needing a GP report; as well as offering greater support for clients who have been self-isolating in retrieving and sending the relevant paperwork, without the new risk associated with leaving their homes. This has resulted in the industry only seeing a 10% decline in sales figures for the first half of 2020 in comparison to last year which, at a time when borrowers are displaying more caution, is promising stability in such an uncertain market.
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Innovation within equity release lending processes has helped the market stay afloat during the pandemic
“Covid-19 had the potential to be disastrous for this market as not only are our average customers over 70 years old, so often needing to isolate, but both legal and financial advice are typically given face to face and a physical valuation of the property is generally required by lenders.”
There have been a number of industry-wide initiatives to address these challenges. The ERC agreed a temporary measure with the legal profession to ensure that customers could still access high-quality independent legal advice without having to leave their home.
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