Median single-family home and condominium prices continued to slide on the Big Island and Kauai in January while the number of resales continued to dwindle in both categories.

The number of single-family home resales on the Big Island fell to 49, a 46.2 percent drop from 91 in January 2008, according to data released yesterday by Hawaii Information Service. Single-family home resales on Kauai dropped an even greater 54.6 percent January to 10 from the year-prior 22.

While the Big Island's condominium resales declined 25 percent to 15, Kauai's condominium resales dropped 65 percent to seven from the year-ago 20.

The median sale price on the Big Island for a single-family home fell 17 percent to $274,000 from last year's $330,000 median. More than half of the buyers on Kauai paid $466,785 for a single-family home last month, down 20.2 percent from the year-ago $585,000 median.

The Big Island median condominium price fell 55.6 percent to $200,000 from $450,722 last year. Condominium prices on Kauai fell 59.9 percent to $235,000 from $586,000 in the prior year.

  While the falloff in home prices was mostly dismal, the neighbor island markets are so small that a handful of high or low resales could significantly sway the market.

To determine market trends, real estate experts say that it is best to consider longer statistical periods.