A time to dare

Equity release has withstood the test of the current market downturn well, notwithstanding the problems faced by two of the 'original' players, Northern Rock and Bradford and Bingley. It is, therefore, no surprise that brokers are showing a growing interest in developing a presence in the market, despite the fact that volumes of written business have still to take off. While the latest SHIP statistics show a 14% growth in the second quarter of 2008 over the first quarter, they were down on the corresponding quarter in 2007. One reason for the lack of growth has to be an increase in the ...