A major book transfer has brought thousands of new customers into the fold of a home‑equity lender.
Household Capital has completed its acquisition of Macquarie Bank’s reverse mortgage portfolio, with the provider confirming that all borrowers have now been onboarded to its platform and can access its suite of retirement funding services.
The move consolidates a significant slice of Australia’s home‑equity release market under a specialist non‑bank, at a time when institutional investors are showing stronger appetite for reverse mortgage assets.
The home‑equity retirement provider said the acquisition followed three years in which it had doubled its loan book, taking total loan originations to more than $1 billion.
CEO and founder Josh Funder framed the transaction as a pivotal endorsement of both the business and its customers, as well as the wider equity‑release industry.
“This deal is a defining vote of confidence, not only in Household Capital, but in the quality of our customers, their homes, and Australia’s world-leading equity release industry as a whole. It’s a clear and timely signal that our sector is sustainable and expanding,” he said.
“We’ve attracted local and global capital to ensure scalable, sustainable funding for Australia’s ageing economy.”
Warehouse, securitisations, and super fund support
Household Capital’s announcement outlined what it describes as a “sophisticated” funding program backing the enlarged book.
The lender’s warehouse facility is supported by Citi, Pacific Equity Partners (PEP), and Revolution Asset Management and is complemented by a series of rated reverse mortgage securitisations sold into domestic and offshore markets.
To further expand wholesale mortgage funding, the group has also attracted a top‑five industry super fund and a top‑five retail super fund.
Tapping $3tn of retiree housing wealth
Household Capital used the completion update to reiterate the scale of the market it is targeting.
It estimates Australians aged 60 and over now hold more than $3 trillion in residential property wealth and that the median retiree has about $800,000 in home equity, three to four times their superannuation balance.
Against that backdrop, Funder said demand for equity‑release solutions was rising.
“Household Capital is supporting the growing demand for equity release to help fund additional income, refinance home loans, fund medical expenses, renovations, travel, or everyday retirement living for those whose wealth is locked up in the family home,” Funder said.
“Freeing up this wealth also has positive flow on effects for the entire economy. It’s spent in the local economy, raises the standard of living for retirees, and assists society in the challenges associated with caring for an ageing population.”
Gendered retirement gap in focus
Household Capital reported that its portfolio had been expanding at an average rate of around 40 per cent year on year and that about half of its customers are single, with almost two‑thirds being women.
Funder said that, for this cohort in particular, reverse mortgages were helping bridge retirement funding gaps.
“These women are more likely to have worked part-time, been underpaid, or have taken time out of the workforce to care for a family member, so their super tends to be much smaller balances,” Funder said.
Looking more broadly at retiree behaviour, Funder said Household Capital was seeing a major emphasis on prudence and planning among its customers.
“In our experience, Australian retirees are prudent and want to have enough to live on, enough for a rainy day, and enough to think ahead to aged care,” he said.
[Related: Housing-rich retirees tap just 1% of equity pool]
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