No last chance saloon

According to the latest industry figures from Safe Home Income Plans (SHIP), the total value of new business written for 2007 reached £1.21 billion, a 5% increase on 2006. More importantly for brokers, sales via intermediaries rose by a significant 25%, from 14,799 in 2006 to 18,531 in 2007. So why do consumers take out equity release? Our own recent research, carried out among a snapshot of 250 of our own customers shows that as many people used equity release to purchase a new car as to generate income. This confirms that equity release should no longer be seen as the last resort option...