SAN DIEGO — Lenders filed a record number of mortgage default notices against California homeowners during the past quarter, a real estate tracking firm said today.

A total of 135,431 default notices were sent out during the quarter ending March 31, an 80 percent jump from 75,230 for the prior quarter and up 19 percent from 113,809 in the year-ago period, according to MDA DataQuick.

Recorded default notices previously peaked in the second quarter of 2008 at nearly 122,000, according to DataQuick statistics, which go back to 1992.

Default notices are the first step in the formal foreclosure process.

The firm said the increase in the most recent quarter was likely due to the ongoing recession and to lenders playing catch-up after a temporary lull in foreclosure activity.

“The nastiest batch of California home loans appears to have been made in mid- to late 2006, and the foreclosure process is working its way through those,” said John Walsh, DataQuick president.

Of the 3 million home loans made in 2006, 8.5 percent have so far resulted in default.

There were 94,240 default notices in the third quarter of 2008, when a new state law took effect requiring lenders to take added steps aimed at keeping troubled borrowers in their homes.

DataQuick said the number of homes lost to foreclosure was 43,620 during the first quarter of this year. That was down 5.5 percent from 46,183 for the prior quarter, and down 7.6 percent from 47,221 for first-quarter of 2008.

The figure hit 79,511 during the third quarter of 2008 before dropping due to temporary policy changes by lenders.

Foreclosure resales have become a significant factor in the housing market, accounting for 58.1 percent of all California resale activity last quarter.

A year ago it was 33.1 percent.