Pensions and housing wealth : quantitative data on market conditions for equity release schemes in the EU

This paper examines the available data on market conditions for equity release schemes (ERS) in all EU member states to cluster Member States for subsequent extrapolation of the findings from six EU Member States (DE, IT, NL, IE, HU, and the UK) to the EU as a whole. It aggregates various indicators to an overall index for ERS need and feasibility, using equal weights for all indicators. A comparison of overall need and feasibility shows a very diverse situation in the six member states and the EU as a whole. Among the six member states, Netherlands and UK have favourable ERS conditions, Hungary, Ireland and Italy have (lower) medium ERS conditions, while Germany has unfavourable conditions. An extrapolation to the EU as a whole is feasible as the six countries are good proxies for EU wide diversity.