Monthly Archives: March 2008

Bankruptcy Filings Surge

More unsurprising but worsening data

Bankruptcy Filings Surge Among US Consumers

American consumers’ bankruptcy filings jumped 15 percent in February from the previous month and a steeper rise is looming because of the subprime mortgage crisis, the American Bankruptcy Institute said.

Consumer bankruptcy filings in February totaled 76,120, up from 66,050 recorded in January, the non-partisan bankruptcy research group said.

The February number was 37 percent higher than in the same month a year ago, according to the institute

Home Foreclosures Keep Growing

This is unsurprising for those of us paying attention, although it is troubling nonetheless. Via NYTimes: In Parts of U.S., Foreclosures Top Sales

During January, it was reported this week by RealtyTrac, there were 153,745 initial foreclosure notices sent out in the United States. That dwarfed the 43,000 total sales of newly built single-family homes and amounted to nearly half the total sales figure, which includes sales of existing homes and condominiums.

The pace of this mess appears to continue to increase.

According to this video from a dude at the Harvard Center for Joint Housing Studies, he sees a bottom at no later than December 2009. Many others are thinking late 2010. I heard that billionaire Sam Zell was on CNBC saying we will have a bottom in a few months…he must have been talking about megacap value equities or something.