Nationwide launches lifetime mortgage. What the hell has taken them so long?

At long last a major mortgage supplier is stepping up and providing an equity release product.

Anybody who can use Excel and has a couple of minutes to spare can see that the UK has to have a major equity sell-off in property if lots (maybe most) older people want anything like a half decent retirement, let alone to be in receipt of any care services. Yet more evidence illustrating the dire state of retirement funding was published this week by Aviva.

For the last five, maybe ten years, I have been giving this message to anybody who cares to listen. When I spoke to the FCA they vaguely seemed interested but then ducked the issue when they released their latest report.

So now Nationwide has entered the market. As the director of mortgages at Nationwide, said: “More people are living longer and many older people have significant wealth tied up in their property.

"Nationwide has a long-term plan to increase choices for borrowers in this age group, who have not been well catered for by mainstream mortgage lenders and remain underserved by standard mortgage products.

"The new Nationwide Lifetime Mortgage will enable those with equity in their home to access their capital and use those funds flexibly to meet a range of needs."

It would have been good to have read Nationwide's press release but their web site has been near to shut-down this weekend. Maybe it is the rush of people trying to get hold of one of their new lifetime mortgages? Probably a technical fault.

I expect to see a flood of these products coming onto the market. Here is an early New Year prediction from Dick Stroud - 2018 will be the year when Equity Release returns to the mainstream of financial services and after that I expect it will thrive. Dick Stroud