By Charlotte Beugge

More elderly people are using equity release schemes to raise money, according to figures from Safe Home Income Plans (SHIP).

Its figures show that in the final three months of last year, £215.9 million was advanced in equity release schemes, the most since 2009 and 15% up on the comparable period in 2010.

The number of plans sold in the fourth quarter of 2011 was 4,399, 6% more than in the previous quarter.

Equity release is a way elderly homeowners can get at the cash built up in their homes without having to move. The most common way of doing this is using a lifetime mortgage, which doesn't have to be repaid during the person's lifetime.

Instead, it is paid back - plus interest - when the person dies and their home is sold. The value of equity release plans sold in 2011 was below the 2010 figure at £788.6 million compared with £803.6 million.

Drawdown schemes - where the householder takes cash from their home when they need it rather than in a lump sum - accounted for 62% of the market in the final quarter of 2011.

Lump sum mortgages took the rest, bar 2% which were reversions - a type of equity release that involves selling a proportion of the property rather than using a mortgage. Nine out of ten equity release schemes were sold by intermediaries, the highest proportion ever.