Approximately 320,000 UK homeowners aged 51-65 are planning to pay-off home loans using money from their pension, according to research from Just.
This comes after it was found last week that a record £1.86bn was taken out of pensions between April and June this year, 62% of which is thought to have been done by people aged 55-60.
"We would urge anyone thinking of taking pension money early to consider the implications on their retirement income carefully," Just group communications director, Stephen Lowe, said.
"Nearly a third of a million people are thinking of using either a lump sum or income from the pension to clear the mortgage. It will depend on people's own circumstances whether doing so is financial sense of financial folly."
The research shows that the majority of UK homeowners aged 51-65 believe they will be able to pay off their mortgages with regular monthly payments, but are less confident the older they get.
Instead, hundreds of thousands expect to use alternative sources such as savings and investments, pensions, and inheritances, while 7% fear they will have to sell their house.
It was also found that nearly a million people aged 51-65 think they will be paying-off house loans after the age of 65, while a quarter fear they will still be doing so after 70.
This should serve as a further warning to those considering taking out pension money early, according to Lowe, who said people might not be able to accumulate that wealth again when they are older.
He points to previous Just research showing that approximately four in ten people are forced to give up work earlier than they expected due to factors outside their control, most commonly ill health or redundancy.
"The older they are, the more likely people are to look to other sources of funding to clear the mortgage such as pension or inheritances," he said. "Planning for retirement has to leave some room for manoeuvre."
"Taking pension money early may not leave enough time to build up the value of the fund again through working, leaving people short of income when they are no longer able to earn."
