But for home-owners seeking to raise money, it could have huge implications.

The Speech referred in briefest passing to a Bill which will include plans to regulate the home reversion side of the equity release market. 

Jargon aside, reversion mortgages effectively involve selling off a part of the value of your home, getting in return usually a lump sum, though sometimes an income.

The loan is repaid when the house is sold, often after the person taking out the mortgage has died.  Equity release schemes are aimed at consumers who have paid off all or most of their mortgages and so tend to be older.

The plan is that now this unregulated side of the equity release market, allowing homeowners to free up cash trapped in their homes, will come under fresh regulation.

The concern is that, unregulated, reversion mortgages, which might seem cheaper than lifetime mortgages, could become the field for less scrupulous operators using hard-sell techniques to older, vulnerable homeowners who would be better off with a lifetime mortgage.

The new rules are now likely to come in within the next 18 to 24 months, probably under the eye of the FSA.

So will mortgage reversion now become a sound way to raise funds, perhaps for a Buy To Let property for your children or grandchildren?

We do not believe it is now, or will be in the future.

The main problem with reversion mortgages is that in selling some or all of your current property to a reversion company, you do so at a big discount.

The plus is that you get a lump sum of cash, don’t have to sell up, and get to stay in your primary property.

The downside is that the discount means you are not raising as much cash now, and that that discount is built into future capital gains on the property.

Even under the new regulations, mortgage reversion will not be a good way to go when it comes to financing property investments.

Sue Anderson, Head of External Affairs at the Council of Mortgage Lenders says: "The government’s plan for this Bill and its impact on mortgage reversion, is a very good thing.

"One thing that has materialised with reversion mortgages has been the problem that it is not regulated, so confidence in these products is low, particularly since the other ways of releasing equity in property for an older person, such as a lifetime mortgage or equity release loan, have been regulated.

"So there has been a mismatch between the various products.

"This regulatory framework is helpful because it implies selling standards covering the reversion mortgage products, and professionalism which at present is not guaranteed."

Home reversion products do have a place in the refinancing market but not as an investment strategy.