The rate at which lenders foreclosed on mortgages in Hawai'i fell 94 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, the biggest drop in in the nation, according to figures released yesterday by RealtyTrac, an online foreclosure property marketplace.

The company said there were 158 Hawai'i properties entering some stage of foreclosure during the quarter. That worked out to one foreclosure for every 2,915 households in the state, or 94 percent fewer foreclosures than a year earlier.

Nationwide, there was a foreclosure for every 363 households, up almost 43 percent from the 2005 period.

Hawai'i was one of just 13 states and the District of Columbia that had reductions in the number of foreclosures for the quarter.

Behind Hawai'i, New Mexico had the next largest decline with a 56 percent drop. New Mexico's foreclosure rate was one for every 1,033 households, or nearly three times worse than Hawai'i.

Hawai'i had the ninth-lowest foreclosure rate per household. The lowest rate was in Vermont, where there was one foreclosure per 49,064 households. The highest rate was in Colorado, where there was one foreclosure per 127 households.