High unemployment and uncertain job prospects may have reduced the willingness of some households to commit to homeownership. Availability of mortgage credit is an important constraint, to which I will return later. Additionally, housing may no longer be viewed as the secure investment it once was thought to be, given uncertainty about future home prices and the economy more generally.
As part of public sector bodies working every day to help borrowers and make the system less risky, we know that this requires continued diligence and determination, regardless of what type of lender holds the loan. The Central Bank / Single Supervisory Mechanism22 (SSM) do not have a preference for loan sales. We have a preference for sustainably reducing non-performing loans.