Around 1.4 million single female homeowners aged between 55 and 79 are on course to have retirement incomes below the Pensions UK moderate retirement living standard, despite holding significant levels of housing wealth, Fairer Finance has revealed.

The consumer group’s Retirement Compass: The Later Life Finance Index found that 65 per cent of single female homeowner households in this age group were expected to fall below the moderate standard of £31,700 a year for a single person.

This compared with 44 per cent of equivalent single male households, despite both groups holding average housing wealth of approximately £225,000.

Of the 1.4 million single female homeowners facing an income shortfall, around 700,000 owned housing wealth worth between £200,000 and £400,000, while 200,000 lived in homes worth at least £400,000.

The report, commissioned by the Equity Release Council, combined economic modelling and consumer research with market-wide data from UK equity release providers.

It found that single women accounted for 32 per cent of new equity release plans in the second half of 2025, compared with 18 per cent for single men, while the remainder were taken out by couples.

Single women therefore represented a slightly larger share of new plans than their 29 per cent share of homeowner households aged between 55 and 79 would suggest.

They were also more likely to be aged 80 or over when taking out a plan: 11 per cent of all new equity release customers were aged 80 or older, and the figure rose to 18 per cent among single women.

Fairer Finance noted that this reflected both women’s longer life expectancy and the scale of the gender retirement income gap.

The Second Pensions Commission previously found that women had, on average, 48 per cent less pension wealth than men.

Meanwhile, the research also revealed that 32 per cent of women aged between 55 and 79 felt insecure about their family’s economic security in retirement, compared with 20 per cent of men.

Fairer Finance argued the findings strengthened the case for housing wealth to become a recognised part of mainstream retirement planning alongside pensions.

Fairer Finance managing director, James Daley, 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 from taking advantage of this store of wealth. We’re urging government to work together with its regulators and the Money and Pensions Service to bring down these barriers so that more people can unlock their housing wealth by downsizing or borrowing against it.”

Equity Release Council chief executive, Jim Boyd, added that it was no longer sustainable to plan for later life solely through the “narrow lens” of traditional pensions.

“For many, their home is their most significant financial asset, and incorporating housing wealth into the mainstream planning process can mean the difference between merely getting by and enjoying a genuinely secure, comfortable retirement,” he stated.

However, Boyd stressed that unlocking housing wealth safely would require "breaking down" traditional advice silos and giving consumers access to high-quality professional advice.

Therefore, Fairer Finance called on the government and regulators to increase the supply of suitable retirement properties, reduce the Stamp Duty cost of downsizing and normalise the use of housing wealth to support retirement living standards.

It also recommended developing a personalised service that combines pension and housing wealth in a single view, alongside reforming Financial Conduct Authority rules to create a more joined-up approach to later-life advice.

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