Home foreclosures in Hawai'i continued growing last month over a year ago, though the local foreclosure rate was sixth-lowest among states, according to a report from RealtyTrac.

The Irvine, Calif.-based real-estate research firm said there were 85 Hawai'i foreclosure filings in July, up 60 percent from 53 in the same month last year.

The national total of 179,599 filings was up 93 percent from a year earlier.

But the firm noted that the year-over-year change in Hawai'i may have been inflated because of expanded data coverage for the state last month.

RealtyTrac has reported that Hawai'i foreclosure filings have risen in six of the first seven months of this year compared with a year earlier.

The data is one of the better, though imprecise, indicators of how many homeowners are facing foreclosure.

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

Because of the methodology, RealtyTrac's count can include more than one foreclosure filing on the same property. But the data also misses 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.

Nationally, foreclosures are rising 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 in some areas drop.

Hawai'i has maintained a relatively low foreclosure rate thanks in part to mostly stable home prices and a strong job market.

RealtyTrac said Hawai'i's 85 foreclosure filings last month equated to one for every 5,777 households.

That was sixth-lowest among states, and compared with a national average of one filing per 693 households.

Nevada, where there were 5,116 July foreclosure filings, had the highest filing rate at one per 199 households. The lowest rate was in Vermont, where nine filings equated to one per 34,149 households.