Home foreclosure actions in Hawai'i remain far below the national level, but show no sign of slowing, according to the latest monthly report by real estate research firm RealtyTrac.

There were 143 foreclosure filings in February — the highest number since 145 in August, and a 142 percent increase over 59 filings in February 2007, according to RealtyTrac's count.

The filings amounted to one for every 3,434 households, which gave Hawai'i the eighth-lowest foreclosure rate by state.

Nationally, there was one foreclosure action per 557 households.

The lowest foreclosure rate was in Vermont, where there were four filings, or one for every 76,836 households. The highest rate was in Nevada, where the 6,167 filings made for a rate of one for every 165 households.

Most observers agree that home foreclosures in Hawai'i and on the Mainland are rising, though there is debate over the accuracy of RealtyTrac's measurement of the troubling situation locally.

RealtyTrac data aren't a precise measure of homeowners losing property to foreclosure because the firm includes a range of document filings in the foreclosure process, from default notices to auction notices and bank repossessions. So the data may include more than one foreclosure filing on the same property.

The data from California-based RealtyTrac also may miss many notices of nonjudicial foreclosures, which are very popular in Hawai'i with lenders and often don't produce public records.

According to RealtyTrac's count, a consistent surge in Hawai'i foreclosure actions began in June. Between June and February, the increases over the same month a year prior ranged between 24 percent and 414 percent.

This suggests that more Hawai'i homeowners are having trouble maintaining ownership of their property than they did in 2006.

Still, the rate of foreclosure filings is well below the 300 to 400 monthly foreclosures seen in Hawai'i during the mid-1990s housing slump.

Hawai'i's housing market broadly has maintained relatively low foreclosures thanks to mostly stable home prices, a strong economy, low unemployment and rising personal income. 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.

Many consumers face higher mortgage payments from interest rates resetting at dramatically higher rates on exotic loans that were heavily marketed to subprime borrowers over the past several years.

In many Mainland markets, declines in home values and lower buyer demand have prevented troubled owners from refinancing or selling their property. Nationally, foreclosure filings rose 60 percent to 223,651 last month compared with a year earlier.

Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com.