There are more than 36,600 reverse mortgage loans currently held in Australia worth $2.3bn, according to the latest Deloitte SEQUAL Reverse Mortgage Study.
According to the research, which looked at the market up until 30 June 2008, this represents almost 14% growth over the past six months and 27% growth over the past 12 months (from 30 June 2007).
Intermediated sales remained the largest channel for the product with 48% of new loans taken through brokers and planners in the first half of 2008 against 44% taken directly.
James Hickey, the Deloitte Actuaries and Consultants partner who led the study, said that there were more than 3,500 new reverse mortgages written in the first six months of 2008 which, when combined with the size of each loan growing from $60,000 to $63,000, underpinned the continued growth in the sector.
"The settlement and growth figures are against a backdrop of a more constrained lending market. It has been a difficult year for lenders, with borrowers also choosing to be more cautious. The results show those challenges. So although 3,500 new loans were written, this was down some 8% since the second half of 2007," he said.
