Could housing market issues impact equity release plans?

Continuing credit restraints have left the housing market facing an uncertain future, it has been claimed, which could impact equity release plans.

The latest Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) European Housing Review indicates that the UK was one of the only five countries that saw house prices rise across the continent.

In the UK, prices rose by one per cent in 2009 overall, but by ten per cent since their lowest point in April.

Commenting on the report, published today (March 2nd), professor Michael Ball explained that the shallowness of the downturn has surprised many commentators.

He said: "Huge problems remain unfortunately.

"Housing markets around the fringe of Europe are still dragging down economies in a vicious circle and all European housing markets continue to face credit constraints and great uncertainty."

Homeownership has fallen across the UK in recent years, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders Survey of English Housing, driven by a chronic lack of housing supply and affordability problems.

Equity release plans from Ashall Glover Financial Services