The number of Hawai'i homes entering foreclosure rose in April compared with a year earlier, but the state still maintained one of the nation's lowest foreclosure rates, according to a national survey.

A 43 percent rise to 66 foreclosure cases put Hawai'i's rate at one foreclosure action for every 6,978 households. That compares with a national rate that rose 62 percent to one foreclosure per 783 households.

In March, there were 65 foreclosures in Hawai'i, up 44 percent from a year earlier, according to RealtyTrac, an Irvine, Calif.-based real-estate research firm that produced the report counting a range of foreclosure actions, from default notices to auctions and bank repossessions.

Only six states had lower rates than Hawai'i. Vermont, with only one foreclosure, had the lowest rate, at one per 294,382 households.

The highest rate was in Nevada, which had 3,737 foreclosures, or one per 232 households.

In a separate count by Bargain Network, a California firm that also tracks undeveloped land and apartment building foreclosures, there were 116 Hawai'i foreclosure cases, or one in 3,982 households.

Bargain Network said 29 percent of Hawai'i foreclosures involved condominiums.