Notices of Default Against Homeowners Drop

The number of notices of default--the first step in the foreclosure process--filed against California homeowners in April dropped 18.2% from the same month last year to 11,899, according to Acxiom/DataQuick Information Systems, a La Jolla-based real estate research firm. The year-over-year drop was the fifth in a row for California, which experienced a sharp increase last year. The decline was sharpest in Southern California, where notices of default filed in April dropped 25.9% in Los Angeles County and 35.2% in Orange County. The firm projects that foreclosure activity in Southern California will fall by one-third by the end of the year.