The property wealth of the over-65s has grown by almost £13.7 billion in the past three months. This comes as rapidly rising house prices continue to earn the average pensioner more than £1,000 a month.

Research, conducted by over-55s financial specialist Key Retirement, shows that pensioners who own their own home outright have made an average of £3,106 tax-free each from their houses in the past three months, in turn bringing their property wealth to a record high.

Key Retirement’s Property Index, which has been monitoring the housing wealth of the over-65s since January 2010, found that over-65 homeowners now own property wealth of £917.1 billion outright, with pensioners throughout nearly all the country benefiting in the past three months.

Key believes that the continuing strength of house price growth further highlights the importance of property wealth when it comes to retirement planning.

“Retired homeowners have huge assets in their homes which can make a massive contribution to their standard of living demonstrating how important property investment is,” said Dean Mirfin, technical director at Key Retirement.

“For many the major barometer of their financial well-being is the value of their home. The increase in values experienced since our research began in 2010 show the impact that property values can have on pensioner capital and income in retirement.”

He added: “The cash that can be generated from property easily outstrips the average amount held in private pensions highlighting how important it is for homeowners to seek independent expert advice on how to use their housing wealth.”