With only four active lenders, the reverse mortgage market is struggling to get the attention of retirees considering home equity release to help fund their retirement years.Deloitte and the Senior Australians Equity Release Association released their latest reverse mortgage market report yesterday, which shows that the value of settlements and new borrower numbers were both down in 2012.There were A$305 million of settlements in 2012 - down from $317 million in 2011, and down from $322 million in 2010.There were 4400 new borrowers in 2012, compared with 5000 in 2011.The value of the total reverse mortgage loan book rose 5.4 per cent, from $3.32 billion in 2011 to $3.5 billion last year. Settlements of $305 million plus additional draw-downs of $65 million were offset by $350 million of discharges (9.5 per cent of borrowers discharged their loans). As a result, almost all the industry's growth came from capitalised interest on established loans.Deloitte's financial services partner, James Hickey, said he was confident about the future of the industry because the growth in the number of Australians reaching retirement age, and the amount of household wealth tied up in the family home, meant there would be demand for alternative forms of equity release.SEQUAL's chairman, John Thomas, said he had had talks with a couple of lenders recently about their plans to re-enter the market. He said that if more lenders promoted the product it would return to growth.Of $305 million of settlements in 2012, 94 per cent were taken as lump sums and six per cent as income streams.The average loan size was $84,000 and most loan-to-valuation ratios were between 15 and 20 per cent. Almost half of all borrowers were between 70 and 79 years old, and the average age was 75.The most common uses for the funds were for home renovation, to pay other debts, supplement income, travel or buy a car.