Do New Zealand home equity release schemes provide value for money?

This means that when the home is sold, the homeowner is guaranteed to receive at least the chosen equity protection percentage of the sale proceeds regardless of the size of the loan balance. [...] The margin is the lowest (1 percentage point) in the UK, reflecting the overall lower mortgage interest rates in that country.6 In relative terms, the ratio of the reverse mortgage rate relative to the traditional mortgage rate is very similar between the UK and the US, and between New Zealand, Australia, and Canada. [...] When the home is sold, the sale proceeds are shared between the homeowner and Lifetime based on the proportions of the home they own. [...] Instead, Lifetime is entitled to a fixed proportion of the future sale proceeds of the home, and this proportion is known to the homeowner from the outset of the agreement.26 Hence, the homeowner is guaranteed to have some equity remaining to them when their home is sold. [...] In the Lifetime Home setup, the main factors that affect how much equity will be remaining to the homeowner is the size of the interest sold to Lifetime, the house price growth rate, and the year the home is sold.