Speaking at the Personal Finance Society National Conference in Birmingham's ICC conference centre this morning, she highlighted how remortgaging is currently “really very subdued” in contrast to the house purchase market.
“Remortgaging to fund consumption and to consolidate debt has proved to be the unsustainable side of the market," she said.
“We would expect it come back when interest rates rise but it’s unlikely to return to levels of what we saw pre-crisis. What we are seeing post-crisis is a focus back on the house purchase market.”
Moving forward Blackwell also admitted that the regulator worries about lenders catering for the credit impaired, adding that the government’s growth targets and consumer appetite comes with a number of risks.
But she told delegates: “It is important for me to stress that there’s nothing inherently wrong with those products.
“But we worry about whether the lender and whether the borrower is responsible.”
