Over a tenth (12%) of UK homeowners over 40 years old would consider releasing equity from their property to supplement their retirement income, according to a new report.

The report said that younger homeowners are considering including equity release in their financial planning more than their older counterparts. Almost a fifth (15%) of homeowners aged 40-64 surveyed by Canada Life said they are thinking about or planning to release equity from their property, compared to 9% of those aged 65 or older.

The average age homeowners would consider releasing equity from their property to supplement retirement income at was 66.

An additional 12% of homeowners over 40 said they plan on downsizing their property to fund their retirement.

Those who said they are not planning to release equity from their property were driven by wanting their property wealth to go to their family (36%), thinking equity release has a bad reputation (28%), not wanting to hold debt in retirement (26%), reading negative media coverage of equity release (20%), selling property outright and/or downsizing (16%), and believing equity release is too expensive (15%).

Research was conducted among 1,020 UK homeowners over 40 years old by Opinium Research on behalf of Canada Life between 26-31 March.