Consumer group Fairer Finance has called for housing wealth to be used to improve living standards in later life.
Fairer Finance's research found 51% of households aged over 60 in 2040 might need to access their housing wealth to maintain their desired standard of living.
The consumer group claims that using equity release and other later life lending products could unlock £23bn each year and contribute £21bn each year in gross value added to the economy.
James Daley, managing director of Fairer Finance, said: "While a growing number of people are approaching retirement without enough pension savings, many of them are sitting on housing wealth that could unlock a better retirement.
"Single women in particular often have the biggest income gap in retirement – but our data shows that on average, they have no less housing wealth than single male households.
“But there remain both structural and behavioural barriers that are preventing more people taking advantage of this store of wealth. We’re urging government to work together with its regulators, and the Money & Pensions Service to bring down these barriers so that more people can unlock their housing wealth by downsizing or borrowing against it.”
The Second Pensions Commission revealed that 15m people in the UK are under-saving for retirement, with one in ten on course to live their retirement in poverty. It found significant inequalities in retirement living standards, with women on average having 48% less pension wealth than men.
The Fairer Finance report found that women were using later life lending at a greater rate than men.
Single women accounted for 32% of new equity release plans in the second half of 2025, compared to 18% for single men, with the remainder going to couples. This means single women took out new plans at a higher rate than their 29% share of homeowner households aged 55-79 would predict.
Women living alone were also more likely to be aged 80 or over when taking out a new plan than single men or couples. While 11% of all new plan customers were over the age of 80, 18% of single women taking out new plans were aged 80 or more.
According to the consumer group, 1.4m single women aged 55-79 will not meet the pensions UK moderate living standard despite being homeowners. Of this group, 200,000 single women live in homes worth at least £400,000.
The Fairer Finance report also revealed sharp differences in how house wealth was being used in the UK.
Among homeowners with a retirement income shortfall, 72% of couples with £400,000 or more in housing wealth live in the South of England – highlighting how much housing wealth is concentrated in a small part of the country.
Almost four in ten (38%) of single female homeowners aged 55-79 with average retirement income below pensions UK moderate level live in the South of England, with a further 16% in the Midlands.
Homeowners in the North with a retirement income shortfall are markedly less likely to have engaged with their options than those in the South. Just 29% said they would be likely to explore downsizing their home, compared to 43% in the South and 36% in the Midlands.
Only 11% said they would explore equity release, compared to 16% in the South and 13% in the Midlands
Regional distribution of new equity release plan sales and lending H2 2025
A quarter (25%) of UK homeowners aged 55-79 said they would be interested in using money from their property to pay for care at home, one of the two most common financial needs identified, level with boosting pension income and savings (24%).
Paying for care at home and boosting pension income were the top two ranked choices in the South, Midlands and North of England.