Home

$1.1 Trillion in Home Equity Available for LTC?

Wed, 10/04/2000 - 12:00am — Karen Stevenson
Description: 

In the latest issue of Contemporary Long Term Care, Jim Moore discusses the amount of home equity that seniors have which might be available to pay part of the cost of their long term care needs. He uses government statistics that show that 77% of people age 75 and older own their own homes, most of them debt-free, and that 70% of these people are either widows or widowers, divorced, or were never married. Combining that with statistics which show that the average home equity of this age group is $110,000, he calculates that $1.1 trillion is tied up in home equity for a group which might be ready to move out of an overly-large family home and into seniors housing. He cites a $1,000 "affordability" gap between the income of most seniors and the cost of seniors housing and care, and concludes that many of them could use this home equity to stay in a facility of their choice, rather than allowing the equity to be spent down by Medicaid on the cost of their care in a nursing home.

In the latest issue of Contemporary Long Term Care, Jim Moore discusses the amount of home equity that seniors have which might be available to pay part of the cost of their long term care needs. He uses government statistics that show that 77% of people age 75 and older own their own homes, most of them debt-free, and that 70% of these people are either widows or widowers, divorced, or were never married. Combining that with statistics which show that the average home equity of this age group is $110,000, he calculates that $1.1 trillion is tied up in home equity for a group which might be ready to move out of an overly-large family home and into seniors housing. He cites a $1,000 "affordability" gap between the income of most seniors and the cost of seniors housing and care, and concludes that many of them could use this home equity to stay in a facility of their choice, rather than allowing the equity to be spent down by Medicaid on the cost of their care in a nursing home.