Bequests beleaguered by housing crash
Charities that get a lot of money from bequests will feel the blow of falling house prices, according to the director of a legacy market research project.
Meg Abdy from Legacy Foresight, a project funded by charities, said the value of payouts received in people's wills are generally made up from house assets as well as stock and shares. As house prices drop, so will the value of bequests.
She added: "Because the market is so slow, it might take solicitors a bit longer to release the value of the will."
But Guide Dogs legacy marketing manager Iain McAndrew said: "The properties we receive are very diverse. Very often there's a balancing act because some areas are performing better than others.
"If the housing market is declining all over the UK it may affect our income but it's too early to tell." Guide Dogs received £38m from bequests in 2007, accounting for about 60 per cent of donations.
The RNLI also gets 60 per cent of its income from legacies. Public relations officer Rebecca King said: "The exceptional value of legacies the RNLI received in 2007 is unlikely to be repeated this year."
HBOS which owns the UK's biggest mortgage lender has predicted house prices will fall by nine per cent this year and house sales by 45 per cent.
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