Low Demand for Reverse Mortgages in Canada: Price, Knowledge or Preferences?

In this paper, the authors investigate three possible causes of the low demand for reverse mortgages in Canada. To do so, they build a model to calculate and compare the costs of guarantees built into reverse mortgage products. They also conduct a stated-preference experiment with 3000 Canadians to determine whether Canadians understand reverse mortgages and whether low demand originates on the preference side. The results suggest that consumers are somewhat price sensitive in addition to demonstrating little knowledge of these products and low demand overall.