Younger Australians turn to reverse mortgages for early retirement | 7NEWS

More and more homeowners are tapping into their equity to help retire early and cover major expenses.Demand from younger borrowers, driving a surge in reverse mortgages.

For Graham and Fran Burns, there's no place like their own home.I love it here.The couple tapping into their biggest asset to help fund their retirement.

Instead of going through that whole process of downsizing.

And cheaper too.Now more Australians in their mid to late 50s are catching on and considering reverse mortgages.The home equity loans often funding renovations, debt repayment, new cars, regular income and travel.

Yeah, I'm 56 in a couple of months.I retired 17 days ago.I'm about to go to Thailand for a year.

We're definitely seeing a trend towards younger people and we're also seeing a trend towards people in wealthy areas.

And most are along the east coast, including Broadbeach and Southport in Queensland, just across the border around Byron Bay.Also in New South Wales, Sydney's affluent upper North Shore suburb of Northbridge, and Melbourne's city and western suburbs.

One common myth is that, oh, that's the loan where the bank takes your house.That's not the case.People can stay in the home as long as they want until they die and they can never owe more than what the home is worth.

Borrowers are warned reverse mortgages can have interest rates as high as 8 per cent.The federal government offering a similar, much cheaper scheme, giving seniors access to lump sums or fortnightly cash payments.

who have to be able to stay here for at least five years.

Jackie Quist, Seven News.