Kaua'i in July was the most expensive Hawai'i county in which to buy a previously owned single-family home, as the median price there hit $700,000, a new record.

The median, a point at which half the homes sold for more and half for less, jumped 44 percent from a year ago, and made Kaua'i only the second Hawaiian Island to post a median price for single-family home resales at $700,000 or more.

Maui eclipsed that mark in May at $780,000 and again in June at $735,000, but fell to $679,000 in July.

"It doesn't really surprise me," said Kaua'i real estate agent Michael Schmidt. "Everything's gone up. Forty-four percent — whoo!"

Schmidt, principal broker with Coldwell Banker Bali Hai Realty, said Kaua'i real estate prices are being driven higher mostly by sales of resort property that Mainland visitors are buying as second homes. But he said the most significant push on prices in July came in the Kawaihau area on the Island's east side away from North Shore resorts and Po'ipu in the south.

"It's a little sad and unfortunate," he said. "It's made it not just challenging, but almost unreachable, for local folks to buy in this market."

The median price of a single-family home in the Kawaihau area was up 17 percent to $560,000, compared with $480,000 a year ago. In more of the resort areas including Hanalei and Po'ipu, median prices were in the low $800,000s.

Overall, Kaua'i's $700,000 median price in July was about double the average monthly median for 2003, according to Hawaii Information Service, which released the July sales data yesterday.

Kaua'i's median condominium price in July was $440,000, up nearly 19 percent from $370,250 a year earlier.

The number of sales was down 23 percent for single-family homes at 49 in July, compared with 64 a year earlier. Condo sales were up 50 percent to 78 from 52 during the same period.

On the Big Island, the single-family home median sales price in July was $370,000, up 36 percent from $273,000 a year earlier. The condo median was $344,500, up 43 percent from $240,500 a year earlier, Hawaii Information reported.

The number of Big Island home sales was up 2 percent for single-family homes to 253 in July, compared with 247 a year earlier, and up 29 percent for condos to 97 from 75 during the same period.

"It seems like a runaway train," said Helene Shinde, a Puna resident since 1957. "There's a building boom going on. The population density per square mile has increased. Students from UH-Hilo can't find rooms. There's now (traffic) gridlock in Kona as well as in Puna."

Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com.