Wealthy older homeowners - pensioners are now better-...

The average over-65 homeowner in Britain has seen her or his property wealth gain £159,000 – or £7,000 annually - in the 23 years they have typically owned their home.

The figures, from equity release firm Key Retirement, also reveal that over-65s in London are of course the biggest winners with property prices soaring by £394,944 over the 27 years they have on average owned their homes – that’s the equivalent to £14,257 a year.

Homeowners in the South East (who have typically owned for 21 years on average) are more than £230,000 better off from buying a property while over-65s in East Anglia (18 years) have seen gains of £206,000 during the average time they have owned their current home.

All areas of the country have recorded strong gains underlining, the company says, the long-term investment success of home ownership and the growing importance of property wealth for retirement planning.

Total property wealth owned by over-65s who have paid off their mortgages is near a record high of £1.09 trillion.

Key Retirement says these gains are helping deliver a major boost to retirement standards of living as the equity release market expands with its own customers releasing an average £77,380 of property wealth and nearly £134,000 in London and £91,000 in the South East.