MS26/1: Later Life Mortgages Market Study

We are launching this market study to examine whether change is needed to enable the lifetime and retirement interest only (RIO) mortgage sector to meet consumers’ changing needs, driven by effective competition in the market. 

Read our Terms of Reference (PDF)

Our Terms of Reference explains our rationale for this market study, its scope, the issues we’ll explore, the potential outcomes our work might lead to, and next steps. 

This study is relevant for a range of parties, including:

• Current and potential providers of lifetime and RIO mortgages.
• Firms who provide funding to providers.
• Intermediaries who are, or could be, involved in the distribution of these products. 
• Consumers who could benefit from using these products in future.
• Existing lifetime and RIO mortgage customers. 
• Relevant industry and consumer bodies.

Give us your views

We are not formally consulting on our Terms of Reference, but we welcome any views on the scope of the market study and the issues we’ll explore. Please share your views in writing to [email protected] by 17 April 2026.

Next steps

We are launching this work now, so that we can provide certainty to industry on our findings as soon as possible. We aim to publish an update by the end of 2026. We will now engage with firms, industry groups and stakeholders to gather their views on these Terms of Reference. We have already started discussions on how the market works now and on what data we may need. We aim to send firms Requests for Information in the coming weeks.