The number of sales of previously owned homes on Maui was sharply lower last month, but median prices stayed close to where they were last year.

There were 50 condominium sales on the Valley Isle in August, less than half the 115 sold in the same month last year. But the median condo price rose 7 percent to $632,500 from $592,000 a year earlier.

Single-family home sales were down 22 percent to 65 last month from 83 a year earlier. The median price was down 2 percent to $625,000 from $639,996 in the same period.

Terry Tolman, chief executive of the Realtors Association of Mau, said the market continues to experience a general cooling trend, with rising inventory, fewer sales and fairly stable prices.

In August, more than half the single-family home sales — 34 of 65 — were in Central Maui, where the median was $469,438. The priciest area was Ka'anapali, where there was one sale for $2.3 million. The lowest median price was in Pukalani, where there was one sale for $450,000.

For condos sold in August, the median price ranged from a low of $280,000 in Central Maui, where there were three sales, to $2.4 million in Wailea-Makena, where there were 17 sales.

This year is shaping up to be the second year in which Maui single-family home median prices are lower than they were the year before. Last year, the median price fell 9 percent.

For the first eight months of this year, the median single-family home price is down 7 percent to $600,000 on sales that are down 22 percent.

Condo sales through August are down 25 percent, but the median price is up 10 percent to $585,000. Last year the median condo price rose 6 percent.

Paul Brewbaker, Bank of Hawaii chief economist, said in a presentation to the Realtors Association of Maui last month that Maui single-family home values are experiencing a correction that is more harsh than Hawai'i's housing market correction in the 1990s but less severe than current corrections in some Mainland markets such as San Francisco and San Diego.