The Lifetime Income novel reverse mortgage offer flagged last year has struck a chord with investors, the group says in an update to shareholders.
“While early in the launch, to date we have received over 2,000 Lifetime Home enquiries, of these 167 converted into formal eligibility requests, 102 of these passed our home assessment criteria, 58 of these are under active consideration, 12 have contracted and 9 are in independent valuation stage,” the shareholder note says.
Lifetime Home offers house-owners an agreed level of income for 10 years in exchange for a 35 per cent share in the property.
“Momentum [for the reverse mortgage product] is building month on month,” the Lifetime note says. “We have pushed out our target of 50 homes in the early portfolio from March 2025, but expect to have these transactions completed by the end of 2025.”
The reverse mortgage play follows a multi-year expansion of the Lifetime business to include six investment funds including three legacy super schemes (purchased from AMP), a UK pension transfer outfit (Garrison Bridge), the Lifetime Retirement product and the former Aon employer super trust (acquired by way of Fisher Funds).
“Against our original plan for the 2025 year, we have grown FUM by $13m to $1.08b (14%),” the Lifetime report says. “The pensions transfer business has grown by $23m, the workplace savings business is up $2m, the legacy superannuation business is up $19m, and the retirement income business up $9m, albeit down against our plan for the year.”
The group has also locked-in plans to bolster its UK pension transfer arm by about $120 million “through an alliance type structure” with another scheme this June.
For the 12 months to the end of March this year, broader business – formally held under the Retirement Income Group entity – has booked an interim profit of $1.7 million on revenue of $11 million and $8.2 million expenses.
However, Lifetime has lowered its 2026 financial year forecast for funds under management by $60 million to just under $1.2 billion due to market volatility with an uplift to more than $1.3 billion the following annual period.
The group is also sounding out investor appetite for another debt-issue after raising almost $3.4 million in 2023 due for repayment this September.
Established by Ralph Stewart in 2014 as a guaranteed retirement income provider, the firm changed tack in 2021 after years of low interest rates rendered the insurance-backed product unviable.