Nearly 3,200 Hawai'i homeowners faced foreclosure last year, a 230 percent increase from the year before and a nearly 500 percent rise from 2006, according to real estate research firm RealtyTrac.

The surge shows that job losses and declining property values that contribute to home foreclosure are taking a heavy toll on property owners.

While the percentage point increases are severe, the level of foreclosures in Hawai'i was still one of the better ones in the country, representing less than 1 percent of homes.

RealtyTrac reported that foreclosure filings, which in Hawai'i affected 0.64 percent of homes, were higher in 33 other states last year.

Worst on the list was Nevada with 77,693 properties hit with foreclosure filings, or 7.3 percent of homes. The state with the fewest properties in foreclosure was Vermont with 137, or 0.04 percent of homes.

Nationwide, about 2.3 million properties, or 1.84 percent of homes, faced foreclosure. That represented an 81 percent increase from 2007 and a 225 percent increase from 2006.

Among the 100 biggest U.S. metropolitan areas, Honolulu had the fourth-lowest level of foreclosures, representing 0.5 percent of all homes.

There were 1,647 Honolulu properties with foreclosure filings last year, up 219 percent from the year before.

Compared with other counties in the state, Honolulu had the lowest rate of foreclosures. The highest was Kaua'i with 1.17 percent of homes, or 331 properties, facing foreclosure.

On Maui, foreclosure filings affected 663 properties, or 1.04 percent of homes. On the Big Island, there were 544 properties facing foreclosure, or 0.72 percent of homes.

Some observers question the accuracy of the reports from California-based RealtyTrac because the company includes commercial property in its count but doesn't collect data from some rural areas.

RealtyTrac said it collects data from more than 2,200 counties nationwide, representing about 90 percent of the U.S. population.