OAKLAND, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 03/02/10 -- Golden Gateway Financial, a comprehensive financial resource for seniors and retirees, today released new usage data from its online Reverse Mortgage Calculator that showed average home values for older Americans have halted their slide after remaining flat or declining for seven consecutive quarters. The national average self-reported home value of older Americans rose from $369,762 in the third quarter of 2009 to $381,895 in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Older Americans were one of the last segments of the population to see home prices rebound, but overall home values for seniors remain significantly lower than 2008 levels. Despite this rise in the national average, the report also showed significant decline in many large states, including Florida, Texas and New York.

This mixed recovery in terms of senior home values will likely continue as individual markets reduce inventory and regain their footing. Data from the most recent S&P/Case-Shiller(1) Home Price Indices shows that many markets within these states continue to show improvement, and this should eventually contribute to an increase in home values for older Americans as well.

"Even a minimal gain in home value is a reassuring sign for older Americans because many of these individuals live on a fixed income and rely on their home to support their retirement lifestyle," said Eric Bachman, founder and CEO of Golden Gateway Financial. "This is especially true for those considering a reverse mortgage because as their home increases in value, so does their potential for greater reverse mortgage proceeds."

Additional observations from the data include:

--  The average age of users remained roughly consistent
--  Self-reported senior home values rose by a little more than three
    percent between the third and fourth quarter of 2009
--  The average existing forward mortgage debt dropped slightly to
    $143,360
--  Reverse mortgage average max up front proceeds available rose by
    roughly three percent while the average max monthly proceeds available
    dropped by 13 percent

            2009 Reverse Mortgage Calculator National Averages


                              Q1 '09      Q2 '09      Q3 '09      Q4 '09
                            ==========  ==========  ==========  ==========
Average age                       69.5        69.3        69.4        69.4
                            ==========  ==========  ==========  ==========
Average home value          $  413,371  $  407,557  $  369,762  $  381,895
                            ==========  ==========  ==========  ==========
Median home value           $  300,000  $   300,00  $  270,000  $  275,000
                            ==========  ==========  ==========  ==========
Percent with existing
 mortgage                         49.9%       49.8%       51.3%       47.6%
                            ==========  ==========  ==========  ==========
Average existing mortgage
 debt                       $  161,265  $  152,455  $  144,497  $  143,360
                            ==========  ==========  ==========  ==========
Average max up front
 payment                    $  143,872  $  151,089  $  136,711  $  132,912
                            ==========  ==========  ==========  ==========
Average max monthly payment $      922  $    1,097  $      993  $      863
                            ==========  ==========  ==========  ==========

        2008 vs 2009 Reverse Mortgage Calculator National Averages


                              Q4 '08      Q4 '09     2008 Avg    2009 Avg
                            ==========  ==========  ==========  ==========
Average age                       69.2        69.4        69.1        69.4
                            ==========  ==========  ==========  ==========
Average home value          $  412,550  $  381,895  $  437,496  $  390,328
                            ==========  ==========  ==========  ==========
Median home value           $   290,00  $  275,000  $   300,00  $  286,000
                            ==========  ==========  ==========  ==========
Percent with existing
 mortgage                         46.1%       47.6%       51.7%       50.0%
                            ==========  ==========  ==========  ==========
Average existing mortgage
 debt                       $  149,691  $  143,360  $  154,762  $  149,996
                            ==========  ==========  ==========  ==========
Average max up front
 payment                     $  136,191  $ 132,912  $  131,637  $  141,146
                            ==========  ==========  ==========  ==========
Average max monthly payment $      880  $     863   $      789  $      973
                            ==========  ==========  ==========  ==========

* For state specific data, please contact Golden Gateway Financial

Golden Gateway Financial's award winning online reverse mortgage calculator has been recognized as an important resource for seniors by the Wall Street Journal, Kiplinger's Personal Finance, USA Today, and others. It allows users to enter basic information to configure reverse mortgage loan parameters and then compare lenders based on those fields. Golden Gateway Financial makes anonymous and aggregated data from these basic entry fields publicly available on a quarterly basis.

Golden Gateway Financial recently launched a new Reverse Mortgage for Purchase Calculator to offer borrowers assistance in understanding how changes in federal reverse mortgage guidelines could help them.

Please visit Golden Gateway Financial for more information about reverse mortgages or to access the company's industry-leading suite of online retirement assessment tools and resources.

About Golden Gateway Financial

Golden Gateway Financial (http://www.goldengateway.com), located in Oakland, California, is a comprehensive resource for older Americans to assess their financial health. Through a unique set of online tools and information, the company helps individuals make intelligent financial decisions so they can more fully enjoy what should be the best years of their lives. The company also operates the industry's premier reverse mortgage and life settlement services with innovative new calculators and products for each, and a team of trained consultants that helps seniors better understand and evaluate their options.

(1) Home Prices Continue to Send Mixed Messages as 2009 Comes to a Close According to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Prices Indices (Press Release), Standard & Poor's, February 23, 2010

Add to Digg Bookmark with del.icio.us Add to Newsvine