RIVERSIDE – The number of Riverside County homes slipping toward foreclosure dropped by 12.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011, compared to the same period the previous year, a real estate information service reported.

Lenders sent default notices to 6,014 homeowners in Riverside County in the fourth quarter, down from the 2010 fourth-quarter total of 6,885, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.

Statewide, default notices were sent to 61,517 homeowners in the fourth quarter of the year, DataQuick reported. That was a 13.7 percent drop from the previous quarter’s 71,275 notices and down 11.9 percent from the fourth quarter in Advertisement

[ Chatton and Associates ] 2010, when 69,799 default notices were sent.

Last quarter’s number of default notices was the second-lowest in four years.

"We are certainly seeing a lower level of foreclosure activity than a year or two ago," said John Walsh, DataQuick president. "The question is, how much of that decline is due to market conditions, and how much is due to policy changes that try to address economic distress and lower home values."

Default notices do not always lead to a home foreclosure, according to DataQuick. Some homeowners emerge from the foreclosure process by bringing their payments current, refinancing or selling the home.