L.A Foreclosures Quadruple, Miami Doubles, Corporate Bankruptcies Soar

Bloomberg is reporting L.A., Miami Home Foreclosure Rates More Than Double.

New foreclosures almost quadrupled in Los Angeles and doubled in Miami in the second quarter, with as much as $5 billion worth of loans going bad in L.A. alone, the online real estate data company PropertyShark.com reported.

The number of homes scheduled for auction in Los Angeles rose 14,505 compared with 3,797 in the same period a year earlier, PropertyShark said in a report distributed by e-mail. In Miami-Dade County, the number climbed to 2,677 from 1,282.

"The foreclosure chart for Los Angeles is unfortunately starting to look like a ski jump," Adina Dumitru, a member of PropertyShark's foreclosure products team, said in the statement.

Corporate Bankruptcies Soar

The foreclosure numbers are staggering but so are corporate bankruptcies. Please consider Company Bankruptcies in U.S. Outpace Individual Filings in June.

The softening economy and the collapse of the housing market caused U.S. businesses to file for bankruptcy protection at a higher annualized rate than individuals, according to data compiled from June court records.

Bankruptcy filings in the U.S. during the month rose 33 percent from a year earlier and may surpass 1 million in a year for the first time since bankruptcy laws were tightened in October 2005.

Individuals this year have filed at an annualized rate that is 23 percent above 2007, while total commercial bankruptcies rose 34 percent, data compiled by Jupiter eSources LLC in Oklahoma City show.

Companies filing for Chapter 11 reorganization also rose at an annual rate of 34 percent above the 6,241 filings in 2007.

Bankruptcy courts had almost 513,000 new filings in the first six months of 2008, according to Jupiter's Automated Access to Court Electronic Records service. Filings began the year above 70,000 in January and rose above 90,000 by March. Monthly filings have hovered around 90,000 since then.

Curiously, I am told the Bernanke will inflate our way out of this mess. When? How? Your answer needs to address jobs, wages, interest rates, the impact of those interest rates on housing, and the impact of those actions have on interest on the national debt if the Fed or Congress tries.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
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