Total personal insolvencies up in December
Total personal insolvencies went up by 0.9 per cent year-on-year in the December quarter 2016 with debt agreements and personal insolvency agreements increasing by 9.5 per cent and 4.9 per cent, respectively, according to the Australian Financial Security Authority (AFSA).
At the same time, AFSA said that bankruptcies fell by 4.9 per cent year-on-year.
The states and territories which saw growth in personal insolvencies included Western Australia (26.2 per cent), Australian Capital Territory (ACT) (14.8 per cent) and Queensland (0.7 per cent) while debt agreements reached a record high in South Australia.
Personal insolvencies saw its seventh consecutive year-on-year rise in the December quarter, although the level of personal insolvencies remained below the peaks reached in 2008-09 and 2009-10, according to ASFA.
As far as bankruptcies were concerned, they decreased in all states and territories except for the ACT and Western Australia where they increased by 51.5 per cent and 15.7 per cent, respectively.
Debt agreement decreases were recorded only in the Northern Territory (-18.4 per cent) and the ACT (-10.4 per cent), constituting the sixth consecutive quarter in debt agreement year-on-year growth.
Tasmania experienced a 55.6 per cent growth in debt agreements and was followed by Western Australia (39.1 per cent) and South Australia (13 per cent).
According to AFSA, quarterly personal insolvency agreement levels fluctuated more than those of bankruptcies and debt agreements as the numbers were relatively small.
The rise in a number of personal insolvency agreements was mainly driven by Western Australia, which showed a 175 per cent growth, and was followed by Victoria with a 50 per cent year-on-year rise.
The Northern Territory saw an increase from zero personal insolvency agreements the year before to one in the December quarter last year.
These were, however, offset by decreases in the overall numbers of personal insolvency deals in New South Wales (41.7 per cent) and Queensland (-28.6 per cent) while Tasmania posted a fall from one to zero personal insolvency agreements.
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