Important Takeaways:
- U.S. bankruptcies surged 18% in 2023 and seen rising again in 2024 –report
- U.S. bankruptcy filings surged by 18% in 2023 on the back of higher interest rates, tougher lending standards and the continued runoff of pandemic-era backstops, data published Wednesday showed, although insolvency case volumes remain well below the level seen before the outbreak of COVID-19.
- Total bankruptcy filings – encompassing commercial and personal insolvencies – rose to 445,186 last year from 378,390 in 2022, according to data from bankruptcy data provider Epiq AACER.
- Commercial Chapter 11 business reorganization filings shot up by 72% to 6,569 from 3,819 the year before, the report said. Consumer filings rose 18% to 419,55 from 356,911 in 2022.
- For the final month of the year, total filings dipped to 34,447 from 37,860 in November, though they were up 16% from a year earlier.
- Bankruptcy case counts are expected to keep climbing in 2024, though there is still some distance to go to top the 757,816 bankruptcies filed in 2019, the year before the pandemic struck.
- Household debt did, in fact, stand at a record high $17.3 trillion at the end of the third quarter, according to data from the New York Federal Reserve
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NEW YORK (Reuters) – A measure of U.S. mortgage application activity decreased for a second week to a five-month low as 30-year mortgage rates rose to their highest since June, data from the Mortgage Bankers Association released on Wednesday showed.
The Washington-based industry group’s mortgage market index fell 1.2 percent to 486.2 in the week ended Oct. 28, which was the lowest level since the week of May 27.
Interest rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, which are the most widely held type of U.S. home loans, averaged 3.75 percent in the latest week, matching the level last seen in June, MBA said.
Mortgage rates increased with higher U.S. Treasury yields with 10-year yields hitting their highest levels in about five month last week.
U.S. bond yields climbed on speculation about whether overseas central banks may refrain from injecting more monetary stimulus to help their economies.
The group’s seasonally adjusted index on weekly applications to buy a home edged down 0.4 percent to 207.0 last week, which was the lowest since January.
The purchase activity gauge is seen as a proxy on home sales.
MBA’s weekly barometer on refinancing requests declined by 1.6 percent to 2,088.0, which was the weakest since June.
The share of refinancing activity rose to 62.7 percent of total applications, unchanged from the previous week.
(Reporting by Richard Leong; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
