October marked the fifth month this year that home foreclosure activity in Hawai'i was at least double the rate in the same month last year, though last month's rate was still relatively low compared with other states.

Hawai'i foreclosure filings in October rose 102 percent to 131 filings, according to a report by California-based real estate research firm RealtyTrac.

However, the state's foreclosure rate of one filing per 3,749 households was the eighth-lowest in the nation, an improvement from 10th-lowest in September.

Nevada, where there were 6,618 October foreclosure filings, had the highest rate, at one filing per 154 households. Vermont had the lowest rate, with nine filings equating to one per 34,149 households.

Nationally, the foreclosure rate was one filing per 555 households. Total filings rose 94 percent to 224,451, which was below the peak this year in August.

James Saccacio, RealtyTrac CEO, said in a statement that efforts by homeowners, lenders and advocacy groups to find alternatives to foreclosure may be starting to have an impact, based on a 9 percent national decline in default notices last month. But he also said a 35 percent rise in bank repossessions shows that more U.S. homeowners are still losing their homes.

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 some areas.

In many 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 Hawai'i's housing market is tightening, it has maintained relatively low foreclosures thanks to mostly stable home prices and a strong job market. 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.

By comparison, Hawai'i foreclosures during the mid-1990s housing slump roughly ranged between 300 and 400 a month, compared to a monthly average of 122 since June when the ballooning of foreclosure filings began.

RealtyTrac for its report counts a range of document filings in the foreclosure process, from default notices to auction notices and bank repossessions.

Because of the methodology, the data may include more than one foreclosure filing on the same property, so the data are a somewhat imprecise measure of homes lost to foreclosure.

The data also miss nonjudicial foreclosure notices that aren't recorded publicly, and situations in which homeowners in mortgage default are working with lenders in hopes of avoiding foreclosure action.

Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com.