Proactive Investors - Hundreds of thousands of Brits are paying off mortgages which will continue in their retirement, new data found.
In the last three years, researchers have noted a surge in mortgage terms which see homeowners locked into mortgages that span beyond the state pension age.
This is particularly rife with those under 30, data from the Bank of England highlighted.
It comes as interest rates sit at 16-year highs, leading house buyers to pick a longer repayment period to better deal with the higher prices.
"The challenge of getting on the housing ladder is forcing large numbers of young home buyers to gamble with their retirement prospects by taking on ultra-long mortgages," said Steve Webb, the former pensions minister and partner at LCP, the financial services group.
Webb added that homeowners who pay off lump sums of mortgages with small pools of retirement funds could put them at risk of poverty in older age.
In 2021, Bank of England data showed around 31% of new mortgages were set to be fully paid off after the buyer had reached the state pension age.
In 2023, this figure rose to 42%, with the final quarter of all three years seeing around 300,000 new mortgages in this style.