The numbers of second-quarter default notices statewide were the highest in over a decade, according to Dataquick, which is pretty much what you would expect in a market that's seen the subprime business take a powder. But the results are hardly uniform; the number of defaults in L.A. County was less than half that of the first quarter in 1996 - a reflection of how bad the recession was in the mid 1990s and how resilient the current market continues to be. On the other hand, the April-June numbers broke records in Riverside, Contra Costa, Sacramento and most Central Valley counties. On a loan-by-loan basis, mortgages were least likely to go into default in Marin, San Francisco and San Mateo counties. The likelihood was highest in San Joaquin, Merced and Riverside counties. Statewide, lenders filed 53,943 Notices of Default during the second quarter, up 15.4 percent from the previous three months and 158 percent from the second quarter of 2006. Most of the loans that went into default last quarter were originated between July 2005 and August 2006, again reflecting the late-entry borrowing frenzy at the lower end.

NOTICES OF DEFAULT (Houses and condos)

County 2006Q2 2007Q2 Yr/Yr%

Los Angeles 4,586 10,393 126.6%
Orange 1,255 2,984 137.8%
San Diego 1,778 4,383 146.5%
Riverside 2,287 6,648 190.7%
San Bernardino 1,839 5,141 179.6%
Ventura 452 1,059 134.3%

Source: Dataquick