Jim Boyd calls for housing wealth to be embedded in mainstream retirement advice
Jim Boyd (pictured top), chief executive of the Equity Release Council, has called for an urgent overhaul of the UK's retirement planning infrastructure, arguing that housing wealth remains a systemic blind spot for advisers, regulators, and government alike despite sitting at the heart of most households' financial lives.
Speaking to Mortgage Introducer, Boyd pointed to research commissioned by the Council from Fairer Finance, which found that approximately seven million homeowner households aged 55 to 79 face a retirement income shortfall, even as many sit on significant untapped property wealth.
Equity release – a product that allows homeowners aged 55 and over to access the value tied up in their property without having to sell or move – has long been the primary vehicle for unlocking that wealth, but Boyd argued the conversation needs to extend far beyond a single product category. People aged 60 and over in the UK hold an estimated £3.84 trillion in non-mortgaged equity – a figure he described as too large and too consequential for policymakers to continue overlooking.
"The average homeowner in Britain has more property wealth than pensions wealth," he said. "And the risk of that being overlooked is too vast and too important for governments and regulators not to take a position."
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Why aren't UK homeowners using their property wealth in retirement?
Boyd was unequivocal about what is holding consumers back. A near-complete absence of awareness, embedded across both the advice profession and the mainstream retirement planning system. Property wealth simply does not feature in the default retirement planning conversation. The system is oriented around pensions, with little structural incentive to introduce housing assets into the picture. Many mortgage advisers, he added, are themselves unfamiliar with how equity release and later-life lending products work or when they should be deployed.
The Fairer Finance research sets out three specific recommendations. The first is a public information campaign to raise awareness of property wealth as a retirement funding option. The second, which Boyd described as the most significant, is a formal step to normalise the use of housing wealth to maintain living standards in retirement, with direction set from government and embedded in Money and Pensions Service guidance. The third is the development of a personalised retirement service. A multi-asset dashboard allowing consumers and advisers to view pensions and property wealth in one place. Boyd said the first realistic opportunity for such a tool would be around 2028.
The Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) recognition of property wealth as the fourth pillar of retirement funding at the Leaders Symposium in June was a significant moment, Boyd said. But recognition alone is not enough. He pointed out that wealth advisers are currently under no obligation to consider property in suitability letters, even where it represents a client's largest single asset. The FCA's later-life mortgages market study, launched in March with interim findings expected before the end of the year, is examining precisely these structural weaknesses.
"The failure to consider property across the whole advice architecture will raise questions about the Consumer Duty and whether the Financial Ombudsman Service will say people have fallen short of their responsibilities," Boyd said.
The women's retirement crisis
Boyd was particularly direct on the retirement inequality facing women. Research conducted by the Council found that 65% of single female homeowners aged 65 and over are projected to fall below the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association's moderate living standard, yet they hold, on average, £225,000 in housing wealth.
He described the situation as a scandal, and one that is entirely predictable. Women disproportionately take on caring responsibilities, absorb the financial impact of divorce, and face persistent salary inequality across their working lives. The result is a retirement income deficit that is well understood but inadequately addressed. Boyd was forthright on what he wants to see: "Someone's got to say ‘This is urgent. It should be handled now.’"
Boyd sees Lucy Rigby, economic secretary to the Treasury, as a key figure in driving progress. The Council has participated in a roundtable connected to Rigby's financial inclusion committee, where the urgency of the issue was raised directly. He also suggested that women approaching retirement should be prioritised within Money and Pensions Service referral routes, noting that Council research found women are the most anxious when approaching retirement but the least likely to shop around for different assets.
"The whole edifice of communication should be saying there are other options which you have to consider, but it's all predicated on top advice," Boyd said.
What does the generational shift in borrowing mean for advisers?
There are signs of a generational shift in how property is understood as a financial asset. The Council's Home Advantage research – a survey of 5,000 people conducted every two years – found that 67% of adults aged 18 to 54 now say it is becoming more common to have a mortgage in later life, up from 34% in 2021.
Boyd attributed this to a fundamental change in mindset among younger borrowers, who increasingly view a mortgage not as a burden but as access to a valuable long-term asset, particularly given widespread uncertainty about the adequacy of future pensions. The later-life lending market is not yet ready to meet that growing demand, the FCA warned earlier in 2026, pointing to structural weaknesses on both the supply and demand side.
The implication for advisers is that the conversation about housing wealth in retirement cannot wait until a client is approaching 60. It needs to be built into advice at every stage, with sufficient continuing professional development (CPD) ensuring practitioners know when to refer, when to collaborate, and when to have the conversation themselves.
"The whole mortgage conversation shouldn't be absolutely segmented into later life over here," Boyd said. "It should be part of a continuous advice process."
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