The next most active market for reverse mortgages in the world is Australia and the signs of the global credit crisis are affecting the availability of their “equity release” products. Australian financial firm Canstar Cannex announced last month it would no longer rate reverse mortgage products, citing that eight lenders had left the market or stopped promoting new loans in the past six months. The government of Australia announced an $8 billion package to add liquidity to the mortgage market but the funding was not made available to equity release lenders. While the equity release sector maybe considered healthy in comparison to the broader mortgage market, it seems that the problems plaguing the US are reaching to other parts of the world.
For the full article in the Australian, click here.
