The over 55s are wealthier than ever. Thanks to careful investment and decades of rising property prices they hold the majority of property wealth in the UK; £3.1 trillion and rising. If you’re part of this generation, it’s time to discover how your property could hold the key to a brighter future that starts at home.
They say home is where the heart is: a cherished focus for family life, a comfortable refuge, somewhere to welcome friends and make memories. Over the past year our homes have worked harder than ever, doubling as office space, classrooms, makeshift gyms and open-all-hours kitchens. No wonder our passion for them runs deep.
Yet a year spent looking at the same four walls has highlighted just how much more we could enhance them to better fit our lifestyles. Home improvements have become a true national obsession: from repainting peeling windowsills to sparkling kitchen extensions, we spent a remarkable £3.4 billion during the third lockdown alone.
If you already live in your life-long home but have new aspirations on the horizon, you’ll likely have your own wish-list. Perhaps you want to modernise tired bathrooms, create extra bedrooms for children and grandchildren or add a tech-savvy home office.
Perhaps you’d like to make your home more eco-friendly, or do you dream of landscaping the garden?
If you are over 55, your property could hold the key to realising the lifestyle you deserve, in the home you love. Let Knight Frank Finance show you how.
Your Trusted Property Adviser
You’ll know Knight Frank as one of the world’s leading property firms who, for 125 years, has provided clients with trusted property advice.
The team at Knight Frank Finance offer the same outstanding expertise across every aspect of property finance, from advice on lending for complex property portfolios to first-time buyer mortgages.
For 125 years we have helped our clients make the right decisions at every stage of life. That’s why establishing our Later Life Finance service in the UK, exclusively for the over 55s, was a natural extension to our role as your lifelong partners in property.
A Mature Market
Later Life Finance options include retirement mortgages and equity release, terms you may have heard before. Put aside any preconceptions though, because today they are part of a rapidly maturing market, and an essential component of financial planning.
“Later Life Finance is quite simply a market transformed,” explains David Forsdyke, head of the service at Knight Frank Finance. “It has evolved into one dramatically more flexible than we’ve seen before, with over 500 products available. For clients that means significantly better choices.”
“It is no surprise that improving our homes is at the top of the list when it comes to reasons for releasing equity from our properties. More homeowners are looking to adapt their homes to better suit their needs and fit in with changing lifestyles, whether that be working from home or spending more time with family. The right improvements can add significant value to your property and be a sensible investment too. A conservatory can add 10% while turning a garage into living space or converting the loft into an additional bedroom can add 15%.”
Using your property wealth wisely gives you the most important prize of all: choice. Whatever you hope to achieve, we can help you find a way.
How Later Life Finance Gives You Choices
David explains some of the details: “Let’s say you are planning an extensive renovation of your downstairs living space. By choosing what’s known as a lifetime mortgage, you can release funds on a gradual basis over the duration of your project, without needing to repay the loan every month. Or you may simply want to redecorate your living room. No problem, because a lifetime mortgage also allows you to access a single lump sum to meet those one-time costs.”
These are just a couple of examples. Making use of your property wealth in this way requires careful consideration and quality advice, available for you with Knight Frank Finance.
If you would like to know more about how a Lifetime Mortgage could help you achieve your home improvements, talk to David or a member of his team by emailing later.life@knightfrankfinance.com or by calling 01483 947764. David runs the Later Life Finance team at Knight Frank Finance and is a recognised expert in this field.
This article first appeared in Country Life magazine, a publication which comments in depth on a wide variety of subjects, such as architecture, property, the arts, gardens and gardening, the countryside, schools and wildlife.