UK Finance data published in late August 2026 shows a 13.4% year-on-year rise in later-life lending during the second quarter, with lenders advancing 37,300 new loans to borrowers aged 55 and over. The value of that lending reached £6.2 billion in the quarter, up 20.5% on the same period in 2025, according to figures reported by Moneyfacts and Cover Magazine on 26 and 27 August respectively. Divided across the quarter's loan volume, that puts the average loan size at roughly £166,000.
UK Finance said the scale of the annual increase was partly inflated by a weak comparison base. Lending in the second quarter of 2025 had dipped as buyers rushed to complete purchases ahead of stamp duty changes that took effect from April 2025 onwards, meaning the year-on-year percentage overstates the underlying pace of growth even as the absolute figures point to a genuine pickup in activity.
What later-life lending covers
Later-life lending refers to mortgage products aimed specifically at borrowers over 55. It includes retirement interest-only (RIO) mortgages, where the borrower pays interest monthly and the capital is repaid only when the property is eventually sold, and lifetime mortgages, where interest rolls up against the value of the home instead of being paid off each month. Both fall within the broader category often described as property-wealth or equity release lending.
Levi Culshaw, Later Life Proposition Manager at Mortgage Advice Bureau, commented on the figures, saying: "We're increasingly seeing customers approach later life lending with a clear purpose in mind – whether that's boosting retirement income, supporting their family, or even ticking off that once-in-a-lifetime trip. This shift in mindset, alongside greater product flexibility and competitive rates, is likely behind the renewed momentum we're seeing in the data."
Wider context
Industry commentary has linked the rise to the broader cost of living and to anticipated changes to inheritance tax, both cited as reasons more homeowners are considering releasing property wealth later in life. UK Finance's own figures do not break down the specific reasons individual borrowers gave for taking out a loan.
The £6.2 billion advanced in the second quarter of 2026 compares with a lower base set a year earlier, when the stamp duty changes of April 2025 pulled activity forward and left the following quarter looking weaker by comparison. Even allowing for that distortion, the 37,300 loans recorded by UK Finance mark the volume against which future quarters in this segment of the mortgage market will now be measured.