A flurry of home sales in South Kaua'i helped turn transaction volume and the median price for single-family homes positive in April on the Garden Island.

The single-digit increase barely bucked the trend for modestly lower prices and dramatically lower sales of homes in Hawai'i this year. Decreases for sales and prices in April were reported for the Big Island yesterday, and for O'ahu on Monday.

Since the number of Kaua'i single-family home sales is so small, it doesn't necessarily signal a trend of more sales and higher prices.

There were 23 homes sold last month on Kaua'i, up from 21 in the same month last year. The median price was $600,000, up 4 percent from $575,000 in the same period, according to statistics compiled by Hawaii Information Service.

Of the 23 sales, 13 occurred in Koloa, a region that includes the resort area of Po'ipu. Frank Supon, owner and principal broker of Koloa-based Pacific Ocean Properties Inc., said there seemed to be a release of pent-up demand among buyers that translated to higher sales.

"Transactions are starting to flow a little bit better," he said. "There was so little activity in prior months, it finally got caught up a little bit."

The 13 Koloa sales have a median price of $550,000, meaning half the sales were for more and half for less. Median prices in other parts of Kaua'i ranged from about $500,000 to $750,000, which, when compared with April 2008, was higher in some areas and lower in others, and resulted in the slight gain for the overall median.

In Kaua'i's condominium market, there were 12 sales last month, down from 15 a year earlier.

The median condo price was $222,250 in April, a 47 percent decrease from $420,000 a year ago. The condo median was primarily swayed by fewer sales in the pricey Hanalei area and more sales in less expensive Lihu'e.

On the Big Island, single-family home sales fell 22 percent to 90 last month, down from 116 a year earlier, Hawaii Information reported. The median price fell 38 percent to $240,000 from $385,000 in the same period. The change was attributable to both the mix of sales as well as lower property values.

Big Island condo sales fell 53 percent to 21 in April from 45 a year earlier. The median price fell 46 percent to $269,000 from $500,000 in the same period.

Most of the decline was concentrated in the South Kohala and North Kona areas.

In South Kohala, the median was $539,500 for eight sales in April, compared with a median of $915,900 for 19 sales a year earlier. In North Kona, the median was $269,000 for 11 sales in April compared with $415,000 for 20 sales a year earlier.