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140 CALIFORNIA AACER: Bankruptcy Filings Experience Rare Year-Over-Year Climb Bankruptcy filings experienced a rare year- over-year increase in November 2015, risking by more than 3,000 from the previous No- vember, according to November 2015 AACER bankruptcy data reported by Epiq Systems. In all, there were 65,511 bankruptcy filings in November 2015, compared with 62,438 during the previous November. It was the first year-over-year increase in nationwide bankruptcy filings for any one month in 2015 and the first year-over-year increase for any November since 2009 to 2010, when filings jumped from about 115,000 to their peak of approximately 118,000 over the year. Despite the over-the-year climb in bank- ruptcy filings, November's total of 65,511 repre- sented a decline of about 4,700 from October, when 70,211 filings were reported. November averaged slightly more filings per day than October, however (3,448 compared to 3,344) in two fewer filing days (19 compared to 21). Had November included those extra two filing days and filings continued at the same pace they had all month, November's total of filings would have exceeded that of October's. e 65,511 bankruptcy filings in November represented a dropoff of 45 percent from the November peak of 118,215, reached in Novem- ber 2009. e number of bankruptcy filings year-to- date for the first 11 months of 2015 is 765,382, an average of 69,580 per month and an average of 3,342 filings per day over 229 filing days. California topped all states for cumulative year-to-date bankruptcy filings with 75,355 for the first 11 months (including 6,471in Novem- ber, also tops among states for the month). Illinois was second with 52,261 filings year-to- date as of November 30, 3015, and Florida was a close third with 50,918. Georgia (45,991) and Ohio (34,582) were fourth and fifth, respec- tively for the most cumulative filings for the first 11 months of the year. e state with the fewest cumulative filings was Alaska with 417 after experiencing just 37 bankruptcy filings in November. As they have every month in 2015, Ten- nessee and Alabama ranked first and second among states in filings per capita for No- vember with 5.80 and 5.41 filings for every 10,000 people, respectively. Both were slight declines from the 5.86 and 5.45 totals reported for October. November's national average in bankruptcy filings per capita (2.69) was virtually unchanged from October's average. Tennessee and Alabama ranked sixth and 11th, respectively, for most cumulative filings in 2015 through the end November. Tennessee reported 33,452 filings for the first 11 months of 2015 while Alabama reported 23,345. Epiq Systems is a leading global provider of technology-enabled solutions for electronic discovery, bankruptcy and class action admin- istration. Top legal professionals depend on us for deep subject-matter expertise and years of firsthand experience working on many of the largest, most high-profile and complex client engagements. Epiq Systems, Inc. has locations in the United States, Europe and Asia. COLORADO GSEs' Maximum Conforming Loan Limits Will Remain Largely Unchanged for 2016 e Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced Wednesday that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae's maximum conforming loan limits will be largely unchanged in 2016, except some higher-priced counties. According to the Agency, the maximum conforming loan limits, which determine the maximum size of a mortgage that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can guarantee, will remain at the current level of $417,000 for one-unit properties for mortgages acquired by the GSEs in 2016 . e FHFA noted that the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) deemed the baseline loan limit to be $417,000. e rule also mandated that "after a period of price declines, the baseline loan limit cannot rise again until home prices return to pre-decline levels," the FHFA stated. e FHFA reported that the current loan lim- it of $417,000 will not change because the Agency "determined that the average U.S. home value in the third quarter of this year remained below its level in the third quarter of 2007." In a letter to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), the National Association of Federal Credit Unions(NAFCU) urged the FHFA to keep the conforming loan limit at its current baseline rate of $417,000 and not let the limit drop any lower. "NAFCU believes the current 2015 limits should be kept in effect in order to avoid a disruption to the national housing market that is still recovering," Subramanian said. "NAFCU's economic research team has concluded that while home sales are widely expected to improve in 2015 as the labor market improves, the exit of many investors from the market and the lack of first-time homebuyers represent two issues of concern for the coming year. Sudden or drastic changes to the conforming loan limit rate for the Enterprises could hamper this recovery." At least one organization, the California Association of Realtors (CAR), was not thrilled with the news that the loan limits will not be raised in 2016. "CAR is disappointed that the FHFA didn't raise the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac conforming loan limits for next year," said CAR President Ziggy Zicarelli. "Home prices in California have risen sharply over the past four years, yet conforming loan limits haven't changed during that time. Not increasing the loan limits will hurt California's housing market, further exacerbating housing affordability and prevent- ing tens of thousands of California homebuyers from a chance at homeownership." However, the FHFA does intend to raise that number a bit in 39 counties where housing costs are a bit higher. Depending on the area's median home value, HERA will provide higher loan limits in high-cost counties, FHFA said. In 39 specific high-cost counties, where home values rose in the last year, the conforming loan limit will be increased. "Although other counties also experienced home value increases in 2015, after other ele- ments of the HERA formula—such as the statutory ceiling and floor on limits—were accounted for, these local-area limits were left unchanged," the FHFA explained. According to the FHFA, several counties in California, Colorado, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Tennessee, and Washington will all see their conforming loan limit raised in 2016. Colorado's foreclosure inventory rate for October 2015, tying with seven other states for the lowest percentage of residential mortgage loans in foreclosure during the month. Only 4,445 foreclosures were completed in Colorado for the 12-month period ending October 31, 2015, ranking 27th among states. Source: CoreLogic STAT INSIGHT 0.4%

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