Is housing market optimism good news for people considering equity release?

11 May 2010

House prices are rising in the UK despite the political uncertainty in the country, it has been suggested.

This could come as good news to a number of homeowners who are considering using the value of their property assets to boost their finances through a lifetime mortgage.

According to the latest Housing Market Survey from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (Rics), house prices have been boosted by optimism brought about by an improvement in British weather.

Data from the study revealed that 17 per cent of chartered surveyors reported a rise rather than a fall in prices last month, up from nine per cent in the previous report.

Jeremy Leaf a spokesperson for Rics said: "For much of 2010, the housing market has been under the shadow of the general election with the gap between supply and demand growing wider as potential house buyers opted to stand on the sidelines awaiting the outcome of the poll.

"However, the start of spring has seen renewed optimism with the good weather improving sentiment and surveyors expecting an increase in both sales and house prices."

Homeowners who are curious about how much cash their property could generate can find out by using the equity release calculator provided by Key.