Retirees draw upon £2.2 trillion housing equity

The parent company of Home & Capital found that this figure showed an increase of 61 per cent on top of the current level of £1.37 trillion.

This is coupled with a worsening of pension provision, with homes being the back-up most are looking to to help bridge this pension gap.

By 2036, there will be an estimated 20.8 million people over the age of 60 - equivalent to almost one third of the population. This is a direct contrast to today's figure which sees just a fifth of the UK population falling into this age bracket.

After deducting any remaining mortgage debt, the average equity for a homeowner over the age of 60 currently stands at almost £265,000. This means that today's over sixties own almost half the UK’s £3.3trillion of housing equity.

Nigel Hare-Scott, sales director of Home & Capital has highlighted the importance of what he terms "the demographic megatrend", saying: “The UK’s savings and assets are increasingly concentrating in the hands of the older generation. Older people typically own more valuable homes than the average and the vast majority have no mortgage debt left.

"For many, the value of their home will become an obvious source of income to help fund their retirement as traditional means of income and support are eroded.

"The fact that annuity rates are set to become more personalised and will be lower for regions of longer life-expectancy should also boost the equity release industry. These areas tend to be richer and enjoy higher house prices, so the lower annuities can be compensated by the greater scope to release equity from homes.”