Hawai'i's home foreclosure rate improved slightly in May compared with the same month last year, but the state slipped several places in a national ranking, according to a report from RealtyTrac.

There were 129 homes entering foreclosure last month, a 1.5 percent decrease from a year earlier, the report said.

The drop put the state's foreclosure rate at one for every 3,570 households. That compares with a national foreclosure rate of one per 656 households, as the total number of foreclosures jumped 90 percent from a year ago.

The number of foreclosures has been rising as some consumers have trouble keeping up with mortgage payments and are having problems trying to sell their properties as the nation's housing market slows.

Reasons for foreclosures vary, from people who have lost their jobs to those who had poor credit but were given adjustable-rate mortgages that now are resetting with higher payments due.

Ten states had lower rates than Hawai'i, compared with only six states in April.

In May, Vermont had the best ranking with five foreclosures, or one per 58,876 households.

The highest rate was in Nevada, which had 5,235 foreclosures, or one per 166 households.

RealtyTrac, an Irvine, Calif.-based real-estate research firm, bases its report on a range of foreclosure actions, from default notices to auctions and bank repossessions.

In a separate count by Bargain Network, a California firm that also tracks undeveloped land and apartment building foreclosures, there were 238 Hawai'i foreclosure cases, or one per 1,935 households. Bargain Network said 30 percent of Hawai'i foreclosures involved condominiums.

Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com.