the numbers from 2008 through 2013:

Friday, January 17, 2014

Even though we stopped making physical record books in 2001, we still keep track how many "books" we create each year. In 2013, there were 1102 new books, each consisting of approximately 300 pages. That adds 330,600 pages to our inventory.

By the end of 2013, we had 27,925 record books containing 9,590,900 pages. Of those books, 15,482 are virtual books, meaning that they were created after 2001 and never existed in paper form.

Our first book technology was handwritten pages that were sewn together in large format books. These began with the opening of this registry in 1855 and were used up until 1924. This format accounted for 702 books. In 1924, we switched to type written pages that used thedeductions. The story covers much else and is worth reading.

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

The total number of documents we recorded in 2013 (67,001) was down 6% from the number recorded in 2012 (71,596). A major factor in that change was a steep decline in the number of mortgages recorded. For the entire year, mortgages were down 16% compared to 2012 but for the final quarter of 2013, the decline was much more dramatic.

In October 2013, mortgages were down 47% from October 2012; in November, the decline was 52%; and in December the decline was 49%. The first two weeks of January suggests things could be getting even worse. In the first two weeks of January 2013 we recorded 638 mortgages. For the same period this January, we recorded only