Hawai'i's elevated, but still relatively low, home foreclosure activity continued last month, according California-based real estate research firm RealtyTrac.

The number of Hawai'i foreclosure filings in September roughly doubled from a year earlier, rising 114 percent to 135 filings, marking the third time in four months that figures have risen 100 percent or more.

However, Hawai'i's foreclosure rate of one filing per 3,638 households was the 10th-lowest in the nation.

Nevada, where there were 5,504 September foreclosure filings, had the highest rate, at one filing per 185 households. Vermont had the lowest rate, with five filings equating to one per 61,469 households.

Nationally, foreclosure filings rose 99 percent to 223,538 — the second-highest number of filings in any month since RealtyTrac began issuing its reports in January 2005.

The national rate was one filing per 557 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 some areas.

In many cases, defaults are rising because interest rates are resetting at dramatically higher rates in the 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 120 over the last four months.

RealtyTrac noted one possible bright spot in last month's foreclosure figures: filings decreased 8 percent from August to September, with 39 states, including Hawai'i, showing reduced foreclosure activity. Hawai'i's number of foreclosures declined by 7 percent from August to September.

James Saccacio, RealtyTrac CEO, in a statement said that despite the fairly broad retreat from August to September, the number of September filings was still the second-highest monthly total since January 2005.

"It's too early to tell if September's numbers represent a one-month lull or if they could signify that more buyers and investors are getting back in the market and snatching up discounted foreclosure properties, thereby providing a release valve for distressed homeowners and overwhelmed lenders," he said.

Generally, year-over-year comparisons that avoid seasonal variations are regarded as more indicative of a trend.

Hawai'i foreclosure filings have risen in eight of the first nine months of this year compared with a year earlier — from as little as 7 percent in February to 414 percent in June.

RealtyTrac notes that some counts of Hawai'i foreclosure filings could be inflated because of expanded data coverage from June to August compared with the same months last year.

RealtyTrac data also is somewhat imprecise in that it 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.

But 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.