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88 SOUTH AACER: Bankruptcy Filings Stay on Downward Trend Nationwide bankruptcy filings experienced their second straight month of decline in May after two increases of more than 20 percent each in February and March, according to May 2016 AACER bankruptcy data reported by Epiq Systems. Bankruptcy filings totaled 66,094 in May 2016, which is lower than April's total (70,457) by close to 4,400 and lower than May 2015's to- tal (69,338) by 3,244. May 2016's total was more than 12,000 less than March's total of 78,332. ere have been 332,173 bankruptcy filings nationwide in the first five months of 2016, a decline of about 6 percent over-the-year from May 2015's year-to-date total of 352,925. e total number of filings for the first five months of 2014 was 405,713. May 2016's total of 66,094 bankruptcy fil- ings was less than half of the peak total for the month of May recorded in 2010 (133,648). e average number of filings per day in May 2016 was 3,147 over 21 days, which is a decline from April's daily average of 3,356 over the same number of days. Bankruptcy filings have averaged 3,194 for the first five months of 2016 over a period of 104 filing days. e state with the most cumulative filings for the first five months of 2016 was again California with 30,846 after adding about 6,300 more in May. As has been the trend, Illinois was second in year-to-date filings with 23,441, after adding another 4,300 in May. e same three states ranked third through fifth in May as they did in April: Florida (19,397), Georgia (18,675), and Ohio (15,757). Tennessee and Alabama continued to rank first and second among states in bankruptcy filings per capita for May with 5.64 and 5.36 for every 10,000 people, respectively. ose num- bers represented slight declines from April's total of 5.66 and 5.49, respectively. e national average of filings per capita in May 2016 held steady over-the-month at 2.56, though it has increased by more than 50 basis points since January 2016's average of 2.02 percent. 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. TENNESSEE Where are the Most Stable Housing Markets? e spring home buying season got off to a strong start across most of the country, and many areas are within their benchmark ranges, according to the latest Multi-Indicator Market Index by Freddie Mac. e index, looking at March numbers, showed that 36 states plus the District of Columbia, as well as 65 of 100 metros studied are now within range of benchmark averages for their home values. Freddie reported that the national market average is now 83.8, up 1 percent from February and the highest it's been since 2008. e number is also an uptick of 1.56 over three months and is up 7.23 percent from a year earlier. e District of Columbia's 102 is the first to break the 100 mark since the recession, if you count D.C. among the sates. Hawaii's 96.7 was the highest number among the actual states, followed by 95-plus numbers from Colorado, Montana, and Utah. In metro areas, Salt Lake City, Honolulu, Los Angeles, and Nashville hovered just shy of 100, whereas Austin broke three digits with 102.2 In March, 41 states and 84 metros showed an improving three-month trend, the index reported. A year prior, 45 states and 96 metros showed the same. Florida in particular showed marked improvement year over year, with its index up nearly 20 percent in Orlando and approximately 17 percent in Cape Coral and Tampa. Denver also improved by 18 percent, while Portland improved 15.6 percent. e best monthly improvements hap- pened in Tennessee, where Chattanooga and Nashville both climbed around 3 percent from February. Oxnard also improved 2.5 percent. North Dakota dropped out of the top five ranked states for the first time since 2014. Len Kiefer, Freddie Mac's deputy chief economist:, said that the U.S. housing market is poised to have its best year in a decade. "Pent up demand for homes and near record-low mortgage rates are bolstering hous- ing markets across the country," Kiefer said. "Similar to last month, we still see pockets of weakness in the Midwest and South, though they are improving, while the Northeast, and especially the West are generally doing better." Where are the Best Markets for Flipping? While flipping activity overall is down con- siderably from its peak reached 11 years ago, the median gross profit per flipped property is up considerably and some markets in the country are providing ample opportunities for flippers, according to data released by CoreLogic. According to CoreLogic's May 2016 MarketPulse, Principal Economist Bin He examined the levels of flipping nationwide and confirmed that the ratio of flipped homes among all residential homes was 4.4 percent for Q1 2016, down from its peak value of 6.4 percent in Q1 2005. But due to much lower overall home sales figures in 2016 than in 2005, the actual number of flips in Q1 2016 was more than 70 percent lower than its peak reached in Q2 2005. e median gross profit per flipped prop- erty in Q1 2016 is about 17 percent higher than its peak value reached in Q 3 2005 ($56,000 compared to $48,000), although the median percentage gross profit is declined from its peak of 47.7 percent in 2009 down to 41.1 percent in Q1 2016. According to He, the decline in median percentage gross profit is likely due to a signifi- cant and steady decline in the overall share of distressed inventory; CoreLogic reported that as of February 2016, the distressed sales share was slightly higher than 11 percent, which is approximately one-third of its peak reached in 2009. Florida was the state with the most flipping opportunities during Q1, according to Core- Logic. Out of the top 20 core-based statistical areas in the country ranked according to the highest share of flipped homes, eight of them were located in Florida. Seven of the top 10 markets with the highest share of flipped homes were in Florida. e three markets with the highest flip percentage in Q1 were Memphis, Tennessee (8.80 percent); Fresno, California (8.43 percent); and Lakeland-Winter Haven, Florida (7.54 per- cent). In the top market for flipping, Memphis, the average number of days to flip (111) was well below the national average of 154 days and the median percent gross profit (55.6 percent) was much higher than the national average of 41.1 percent for Q1. e median gross profit in Memphis during Q1 ($38,466), however, was way down off the national average ($56,000). Four of the top 20 CBSAs with the highest

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