Not that we need this kind of news on a day when the financial markets are struggling to keep it together, but new Dataquick numbers show that L.A. County had an 82.8 percent increase in default notices in the fourth quarter compared with a year earlier. Most of the loans going into default had originated between August 2005 and October 2006, the tail end of the boom (and the time when suckers were entering the market). With home prices coming down from that peak, homeowners owing more on a property than what it's worth. Mortgages were least likely to go into default in San Francisco, Marin, and San Mateo counties and most likely in Merced, San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties.

Q4 Notices of Default (% change from Q4 2006)

Los Angeles 13,613 (82.8%)
Orange 4,276 (115.6%)
San Diego 6,151 (95.3%)
Riverside 9,913 (118.9%)
San Bernardino 7,288 (106.0%)
Ventura 1,504 (89.4%)

Source: Dataquick