In comparison, 3,502 new lump sum lifetime mortgages were taken out, higher than any quarter prior to Q2 2018 despite being the lowest quarterly total seen over the last year. The industry data highlights the average size of new drawdown plans was consistent with the previous quarter in terms of customers’ first withdrawal (£63,166 versus £62,416 in Q1), although customers reserved more modest amounts of housing wealth for future use (£35,903 compared to £37,069 in Q1). The average size of a new lump sum plan taken out in Q2 was also scaled back slightly to £93,712 (-4% on Q1).

Total clients served rose by 2% over the quarter to 20,866 and were up 3% year on year. Although the number of new customers was down 1% on Q1 to 10,731, the number of returning drawdown customers increased 7% to 9,154 over the same period, driven by more existing customers having these products. Total lending between April and June fell slightly compared to Q2 2018 (- 3%) to £911.3m with the year on year comparison decreasing by 6%. Following the busiest Q1 of any year to date, this meant overall market activity in the first half of 2019 was broadly in line with H1 2018. A total of £1.85bn of housing wealth was unlocked in H1 2019 (versus £1.84bn a year earlier) with 21,585 new plans agreed (versus 21,490 in H1 2018) and a total of 41,263 customers were served (compared to 38,912 in H1 last year).

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With the full new state pension currently valued at £168.80 per week, this adds up to a retirement income of £8,777.60 per year. Most employees (62%) aged 45+ do not know what the pension freedoms mean for them, while 37% do not know what type of pension scheme they have – for example whether it’s a defined contribution or defined benefit scheme.

However, the analysis also highlights it is never too late to save. Based on the average UK salary of £28,000, Aviva calculates that an employee aged 45 today with no savings to date could build a pension pot of £56,100 by the time they reach 65, based on the current minimum employee and employer pension contributions under auto-enrolment alone (a combined 8% of annual pensionable earnings).

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More than half (56%) of BoMaD lenders who have or would consider helping family to purchase property said they are willing to because ‘it was a nice thing to do’. Almost another fifth (19%) said they feel it’s their personal responsibility to help out. The Bank of Mum and Dad research has also revealed that consumers are increasingly considering other solutions that can help them to support family members but also pay for the retirement they want to lead.

Unlocking housing wealth with equity release is becoming more popular with the over-55s and many are now using the money to help with a deposit. 16% of BoMaD lenders have or would release equity and use that money to financially support their children or grandchildren. This makes it the third most popular source of funds for the Bank of Mum and Dad. But BoMaD lenders are using these funds to help with their own retirement ambitions too. More than a quarter (26%) would or have used their housing wealth to fund home renovations and nearly three in every five (58%) parents and grandparents are using it to free up cash to stay in their own home. Across the over-55s surveyed who haven’t released property equity already, well over a quarter (29%) said they would consider drawing equity from their home with a lifetime mortgage.

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