O'ahu's home foreclosure rate rose 53 percent last year over the prior year but was fourth-lowest among 100 major U.S. metropolitan areas, according to a new report.

There were 621 "foreclosure actions" made against homes on O'ahu last year, according to Irvine, Calif.-based real-estate research firm RealtyTrac.

The company said the foreclosure activity translated to 0.16 percent of O'ahu households entering some stage of foreclosure during the year, though the 621 foreclosure actions were made against only 517 properties because of the variety of actions counted that include default notices and auction notices.

RealtyTrac said the market most besieged by foreclosure activity was the Detroit/Livonia/Dearborn, Mich., area where 4.9 percent of households faced foreclosure. Greenville, S.C., had the lowest foreclosure rate at 0.08 percent of households.

On average for the 100 metro areas, foreclosure filings were up 78 percent and affected 1.4 percent of households.

Foreclosures are rising nationwide because many consumers can't keep up with mortgage payments and face difficulty trying to refinance or sell their property as the housing market slows and prices drop in many areas.

In some cases, defaults are rising because interest rates are resetting at dramatically higher rates on exotic loans heavily marketed to subprime borrowers over the past several years.

While O'ahu's housing market is cooling, it has maintained relatively few foreclosures thanks to a strong job market and a 2 percent rise in the median price of homes sold last year. Local lenders also say borrowers generally were more conservative and didn't take out as many of the riskier loans as in some Mainland markets.

RealtyTrac said 86 of 100 metro markets saw foreclosure activity increase last year.

"Most of the metro areas with the highest foreclosure rates were either cities like Stockton (Calif.) and Las Vegas, which experienced meteoric growth and unsustainable price appreciation over the past few years, or cities like Detroit, which are undergoing a more widespread economic downturn along with higher unemployment rates," James Saccacio, RealtyTrac chief executive officer, said in a statement.

At the state level, RealtyTrac last month released national rankings that showed Hawai'i had the seventh-lowest foreclosure rate among 50 states, with 0.2 percent of households in some stage of foreclosure last year.

Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com.