Despite a pair of noteworthy increases near year’s end, 2012 closed with commercial bankruptcy filings at their lowest total since the 2008 financial crisis.
According to data provided to the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI) by Epiq Systems, Inc., there were 57,788 total commercial bankruptcies during calendar year 2012, a 22% drop from the 74,415 filings during the same period in 2011. Chapter 11 filings also fell in 2012, as the 7,760 filings marked a 10% decrease from the 8,658 Chapter 11 filings in 2011.
Filings fell in the consumer world as well, as the 1,127,540 total noncommercial filings during 2012 represented a 14% drop from 2011’s noncommercial total of 1,305,243. Combined, there were 1,185,328 total bankruptcy filings for calendar year 2012, which marks another 14% decrease from the 1,379,658 total filings in 2011.
In December 2012 alone, there were 3,739 commercial filings, 33% lower than the 5,569 filings during the same period in 2011. Chapter 11 filings registered a 25% drop with 742 filings in December 2011 compared to only 559 last month.
The per capita filing rate for calendar year 2012, measuring total filings per 1,000 population, decreased to 3.83, down from 4.46 in 2011. States with the highest filing rates through 2012 were Tennessee (6.88), Nevada (6.43), Georgia (6.43), Alabama (5.84) and Utah (5.76).
Read more about what to expect from bankruptcies in 2013 in this week’s upcoming edition of NACM’seNews.
Courtesy: Jacob Barron, CICP, NACM staff writer
