The National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association reported Friday that homeowners age 62 and older saw their home equity increase by a combined 2.4% to $6.42 trillion in the second quarter of 2017 from $6.27 trillion in Q1 2017.
According to the NRMLA/RiskSpan Reverse Mortgage Market Index, the growth in housing wealth for retirement-aged homeowners was driven by an estimated 2.1%, or $162 billion, improvement in senior home values, and offset by a 0.8% increase of senior-held mortgage debt that equaled $12 billion. The RMMI, a quarterly measurement of home equity held by older homeowners, rose to 230.17 in Q2 2017, another all-time high since the index was first published in 2000.
“It is unclear whether Congress and the President will come to an agreement on healthcare reform this year, but there is little doubt that healthcare spending per person will continue to increase. This is a particularly sobering fact for older Americans who can expect to spend between $200,000 to $400,000 out- of-pocket for medical expenses during retirement,” said NRMLA President and CEO Peter Bell. “The question for them right now is not whether the Senate Majority Leader can get the votes to pass a bill, but how are they going to pay for the financial shocks of aging? Housing wealth provides older homeowners with an available source of funds to manage the costs of caregiving and other expenses incurred in the last third of life.”
