ClaimsMichael Burry

“Again, in our favor, these loss severities have been rising at a rapid rate this year, from 10-15% at the beginning of the year to 30-45% recently.”

Michael Burry, Scion Capital fund manager, investor letter 2006 Scion Funds annual letters compilation (investorkurs.no)

Factual Economics and markets

Loss severities on foreclosed subprime mortgages rose during 2006 from 10-15% at the start of the year to 30-45% recently.

Unresolvable The public record could not settle it.

Factual: Statements about the present or the past, checked against the record: did they hold up?

Said for an organisation they lead or work for; it counts on both records.

What would count as true or false

Judged as of 2006, when the letter was written. True: industry or remittance data show that loss severities on liquidated or foreclosed subprime mortgages rose during 2006 from about 10–15% early in the year to about 30–45% by the time of writing. Mostly true: severities rose sharply over that period, with start or end levels only modestly outside the stated ranges (within about 5 percentage points). Mixed: severities rose, but by clearly less than stated (for example ending at about 20–30%). Mostly false: severities were roughly flat or rose only slightly. False: severities did not rise, or fell, during 2006.

Set before the research began.

Evidence (3)

  1. E1 Conviction Amid Mark-to-Market Losses on the Subprime Short valuebeast.co.kr (third-party Korean commentary site) · 1 September 2006

    “Loss severity had jumped from 10–15% at the start of the year to 30–45%, and one trade hit 63.53% in that month alone.”
  2. E2 RMBS CDS & Side Pockets - Some Good Questions (November 7, 2006 Q&A, English text) valuebeast.co.kr (reproduction of Michael Burry's Scion Capital Q&A) · 7 November 2006 Own record

    “Is PPSI 2005-WLL1 representative of the rest of the portfolio? No. This is an example,”
  3. E3 Conviction Amid Mark-to-Market Losses on the Subprime Short (English translation of Burry's 2006 Q3 letter) valuebeast.co.kr · 1 September 2006 Own record

    “Loss severity had jumped from 10–15% at the start of the year to 30–45%, and one trade hit 63.53% in that month alone.”

Reasoning

E3 and E6 are summaries of Burry's own Q3 2006 letter, and they only repeat its figures: severities went from 10–15% to 30–45%, with one trade at 63.53%. Neither cites independent industry or remittance data. E4 is Burry's own Q&A and gives no severity figures. No evidence independent of the claim shows what loss severities on subprime mortgages actually were during 2006, so the claim cannot be checked against the criteria.

Cite this claim

Michael Burry, “Loss severities on foreclosed subprime mortgages rose during 2006 from 10-15% at the start of the year to 30-45% recently.” (said 2006). Verdict: unresolvable. Reliability API, claim c_d9717b81964c, method 0.1.0+c876030c, dataset release v1.1.2. https://epistacklabs.com/claims/c_d9717b81964c

This claim is in dataset release v1.1.2, with the same verdict.

Reply to this claim

For Michael Burry, or someone speaking for them: a correction or counter-evidence. Replies are read before anything is shown; an approved reply shows your name, role, date, statement and link. Your email address is never shown and is deleted 30 days after the decision (privacy).

More factual claims by Michael Burry

  1. Mostly false Factual 3 November 2026
    “The Superinvestors of Graham & Doddsville all lost money 3 years in a row during the mid-1970s.”

    The Superinvestors of Graham & Doddsville all lost money three years in a row during the mid-1970s.

  2. Mostly true Factual 30 October 2026
    “It’s a perfect storm for Build-A-Bear (BBW), a one-of-one retailer now heavily shorted, 25% of the float, almost 9 days to cover.”

    Build-A-Bear (BBW) is heavily shorted, with short interest at 25% of the float and almost 9 days to cover.

  3. Resolved true Factual 30 October 2026
    “Here is the link where I made the case last week that beneath the surface the October 6, 2026 record close in the S&P 500 looks more like the March 2000 top than any other record high since 1980.”

    Burry made the case the prior week that the October 6, 2026 S&P 500 record close looks more like the March 2000 top than any other record high since 1980.

  4. Mostly true Factual 24 October 2026
    “October 6, 2026 stands head to head with March 2000 as the two most narrow, thin, soft new highs”

    Across 982 S&P 500 record closes since 1980, October 6, 2026 and March 2000 are the two most narrow, thin, soft new highs by almost any measure.

  5. Mostly true Factual 11 October 2026
    “Both stocks have retraced essentially all their gains since Trump’s election, and they put in a giant head-and-shoulders-and-elbows top for added emphasis.”

    Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac stocks have retraced essentially all their gains since Trump's election and formed a large head-and-shoulders top.

All of them

Verdicts are made automatically; how verdicts are made.