Hawaii bankruptcies declined in January to their lowest level in nine years as the economy continued to show signs of improvement.

The 95 cases filed last month marked the lowest total since January 2007 when 89 were filed, according to data released Monday by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Hawaii. Last month’s total was down 18.8 percent from 117 in January 2015 and continued a downward trend that has seen bankruptcies flat or down from the year-earlier period for 56 of the last 58 months. The only interruption in that trend was in October and November of last year when bankruptcies were up slightly over the year-earlier period.

“Since January is right after the holidays, I think what you’re seeing (with the low number) is a blip,” said bankruptcy attorney Michael Collins of Wailuku-based Cain &Herren ALC. “Typically, people aren’t looking to file liquidation bankruptcies during the holidays. That’s not something they associate with Christmas or Hanukkah.”

Collins said the overall downward trend likely reflects the strength of the real estate market that has encouraged homeowners to seek forms of financial relief other than bankruptcy.

“Most of our clients are homeowners, and over the past few years, there’s been an appreciation in the real estate market, which has encouraged my clients to consider other options including, but not limited to, loan modifications,” Collins said. “We’ve also seen an upward trend in our (Maui) office with the number of Chapter 13s that have been filed over the past year, and we would similarly attribute that to the growth in the real estate market.”

Nine of the 21 bankruptcy cases filed in Maui County in January were Chapter 13 filings, which allow individuals with regular sources of income to set up plans to pay creditors over time. The remainder of the Maui cases were Chapter 7 liquidation filings, the most common type of bankruptcy.

Collins said many of the clients he’s seeing are filing bankruptcy as a tool to manage defaults in mortgage payments and to assist them in defending their home in a foreclosure.

“Bankruptcy can give them the potential opportunity to cure their mortgage payment (problems) or mortgage delinquency and provide them temporary relief so that they can independently apply for a modification of their mortgage,” Collins said. “The modification program has changed a lot in the past few years. Most are designed to provide long-term relief, and many will have balloon delinquent payments toward the end of the loan. The whole idea is that the mortgage lender is not forgiving debt. They’re simply choosing not to foreclose on the delinquent balance. So this keeps homeowners in their home but also ensures that investors will ultimately get paid if the property refinances or sells in the future.”

For the state, Chapter 7 bankruptcies fell 20.5 percent last month to 66 from 83 in the year-earlier month. Chapter 13 filings dropped 15.6 percent to 27 from 32. And Chapter 11 cases, typically a business reorganization, were flat with two cases filed in January of both 2016 and 2015.

The number of filings fell in all four major counties last month. Bankruptcies in Honolulu fell to 56 from 59, Hawaii County filings dipped to 14 from 15, Maui County cases declined to 21 from 33 and Kauai County cases dropped to four from 10.