2.8m 'home pensions' at risk as housing market goes into meltdown

Around 2.8million homeowners are risking their retirement dreams by treating their home as their pension, research reveals today. Rather than saving money into a pension, they have been hoping that 'bricks and mortar' would pick up the bill when they stop working. But their plans are under threat because of the housing market meltdown, with prices predicted to fall up to 35 per cent over the next two years. The research, from the financial services firm MetLife, is the first professional estimate of the number of people affected. Ed Gardner, chief executive of MetLife UK, said: 'The party is over in the housing market, for the moment at least. 'This ought to act as a wake-up call for people who have assumed that their property is their pension.' Falling prices will scupper the plans of people who had been hoping to sell their... [read full story]