Residents and investors bought fewer and generally less expensive homes on the Big Island and Kaua'i last month than they did a year earlier, according to industry data released yesterday for the two Neighbor Islands.

The biggest change was in Kaua'i's condominium market, where the number of sales dropped 48 percent to 14 in July from 27 in the same month last year, according to sales data compiled by Hawaii Information Service.

Most of that reduction happened in Hanalei as visitors and investors scaled back their appetite for vacation property amid a slowing economy and softening real estate market.

The median Kaua'i condo price was off 34 percent to $380,000 in July from $575,000 a year earlier.

But the sale price decline doesn't necessarily indicate a sharp downward trend for property values because the median — a point at which half the prices are higher and half are lower — can easily be swayed by differences in the mix of homes sold.

For instance, a greater number of older and smaller condos selling can pull down the median, whereas a greater number of newer and larger condos selling can push up the median.

In Kaua'i's single-family home market, sales dipped 9 percent to 30 last month from 33 a year earlier, and the median price fell 10 percent to $610,000 from $678,000 in the same period.

In Kawaihau, Kaua'i's largest single-family home submarket, July sales rose to 14 from 13 a year ago, and the median was $517,500 vs. $499,000.

On the Big Island, single-family home sales fell 40 percent to 96 in July from 159 a year earlier. The region with the most sales was Puna, where transactions in July were down 39 percent to 33 from 54 a year ago, and the median price was down 10 percent to $245,000 from $271,000.

The median single-family home sale price on the Big Island last month was $299,000, down 22 percent from $385,000 a year earlier.

There were 30 Big Island condo sales in July, down 30 percent from 43 a year earlier. The median price fell 10 percent to $324,500 from $360,000 in the same comparable period.