Foreclosure activity in Hawaii dropped in August from the prior month, but rose nearly 159 percent from the previous year to reach its second highest total in that time period, RealtyTrac, an online foreclosure marketplace, reported today.

One in every 583 Hawaii properties, totaling 869, received a foreclosure filing in August, according to RealtyTrac. More than two-thirds of Hawaii's foreclosure activity was in the early stages, indicating that there are more bank-owned properties to come, said Daren Blomquist, RealtyTrac marketing manager.

“;The factors out there that are driving foreclosures are still in place and we don't expect to see a lot of relief from those in the near future,”; Blomquist said. “;At least through the end of the year, we expect the numbers to trend upward.”;

As much as 65 percent of Hawaii's real estate activity in August was related to the distressed market, said John Riggins, owner of John Riggins Real Estate, who served on a short-sale, foreclosure and real estate-owned property panel at a STAR POWER annual real estate conference last month in Colorado.

“;That's consistent with the rest of the nation,”; Riggins said. Still, while Hawaii's growing foreclosure activity made it the 20th-ranked state for top foreclosure rates, its footprint is pretty limited. National foreclosure activity decreased less than 1 percent from a record high in July, but rose 18 percent from August 2008. Last month, RealtyTrac reported 358,471 foreclosures nationwide, or 1 for every 357 households.

“;After hitting a high for the year in July, REOs dropped 13 percent in August, but we also saw a record high number of properties either entering default or being scheduled for a public foreclosure auction for the first time,”; said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac.

In comparison, Nevada, the top-ranked state for foreclosure activity, recorded 17,902 foreclosures in August, which meant that 1 in every 62 housing units had received a foreclosure filing. Florida, California, Michigan, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Georgia and Illinois rounded out the list of top-ranked states.