Median prices for condominiums sold on Kaua'i and Maui last month rose above or near previous records, driven by demand for million-dollar vacation property in the broader, more moderate housing market of the Neighbor Islands.

Kaua'i's $772,000 median condo price in November bettered the previous record of $700,000 set in May, and was 40 percent higher than the $550,000 median in the same month last year.

The surge was produced largely by a dearth of sales. Only 12 condos sold last month, compared with 35 a year earlier. Most of the decline occurred in regions with lower median condo prices such as Lihu'e and Koloa. By contrast, the number of sales was unchanged at eight in Hanalei's resort condo market where the median price was $1.77 million, up from $732,000 a year ago.

On Maui, the median price for existing condos sold last month was $647,656 — the second-highest on record after $649,000 in June 2006, and 13 percent higher than $575,000 in November 2006.

Terry Tolman, chief executive of the Realtors Association of Maui, said November's median condo price was influenced by million-dollar resort condos. Of 78 Maui condos sold last month, 23 — nearly a third — sold for more than $1 million. One Kapalua condo sold for $5.1 million.

"There seems to be a whole bunch of high-end condo sales," he said.

Such distributions of luxury residential property sales tend to boost overall median sale prices because the median is a point at which half the sales are for more and half for less.

Because Neighbor Island housing markets typically have relatively few sales each month, the median price is susceptible to significant swings that less likely reflect inherent property values as opposed to larger markets with more balanced distributions of sales such as O'ahu.

On the Big Island, the median condo resale price last month was $481,000, up 30 percent from $368,691 a year earlier. There were 26 sales, down 26 percent from 35 sales, in the same comparable period.

Big Island single-family homes in November sold for a median $363,600, down 3 percent from $375,000 a year earlier. There were 99 sales, a 29 percent decline from 140, in the same period.

Single-family homes on Kaua'i sold last month for a median $515,150, down 14 percent from $600,000 a year earlier. There were 24 sales, down 27 percent from 33, in the same period.

Maui single-family homes sold last month for a median $624,000, up 4 percent from $600,000 a year earlier. Sales were down 30 percent to 79 from 113 in the same period.

Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com.