Bunbury insolvency rates highest, but falling

Recent data shows Bunbury had the highest rate of personal insolvency in regional WA for the December 2017 quarter.

However, figures show the number of people who declared personal insolvency in the region has declined since September 2017.

The Australian Financial Security Authority recently released the regional personal insolvency statistics for the December quarter 2017.

According to the data, Bunbury has the highest number of personal insolvency, with 38 debtors listed.

This is down from the 48 debtors listed for the September quarter.

The next two highest rates of personal insolvency were in the Mid West and Goldfields regions with 27 and 25 cases reported respectively for the December 2017 quarter.

The number of Bunbury debtors with an insolvency which is not business related has decreased significantly from 41 down to 28 since the September quarter.

However, the number of debtors with an insolvency that is business related has risen from seven to 10 over the same time period.

The 48 cases of personal insolvency in September 2017 was the highest number recorded in the past four years since figures were released in December 2013 when 19 instances were reported.

Nationally there were 7687 debtors who entered a new personal insolvency in the December 2017 quarter.

Of these, 4785 debtors or 62.2 per cent were located in greater capital cities.