The absence of many resort homebuyers continued to weigh heavily on sales and prices of existing homes on Maui, Kaua'i and the Big Island, with some segments of those markets down by more than half last month.

The most dramatic change was in the median price of previously owned condominiums on Kaua'i, which dropped 68 percent to $220,000 in March, from $677,500 in the same month last year, according to data from Hawai'i Information Service.

Factors including the location and quality of condos as well as a softening in broad real estate values combined to produce the big drop in the median price, which is a point at which half the sales were higher and half were lower.

Most Kaua'i condo sales last month were in the working-class area of Lihu'e, whereas a year ago most condo sales were in the Hanalei and Koloa areas that include Princeville and Po'ipu resorts filled with luxury vacation homes.

Overall, there were 11 condos sold on the Garden Island last month, compared with 20 a year earlier.

In Lihu'e, six condos sold in March, up from two a year earlier. Last month there were no condos sold in Kawaihau, which which includes Kapa'a, compared with three sales a year earlier.

The median price for Lihu'e condos was $92,278 last month compared with $402,500 a year earlier, which helped drag down the islandwide median price.

Karen Agudong, president and principal broker of Aloha Island Properties, said the Lihu'e condo sales included some distressed condo-hotel units at the Kauai Beach Resort, a project caught up in foreclosure against local developer Brian Anderson.

"There were some extremely low prices by sellers just desperate to get out," said Agudong, who is also president of the Kauai Board of Realtors.

At the higher end of the market in Hanalei and Koloa, five condos sold in March, down from 15 a year earlier.

Two Koloa condos sold for a median $757,500, up from $280,000 on seven sales a year earlier.

Three Hanalei condos sold for a median $600,000, down from $918,080 on eight sales a year earlier.

Real estate agents say the small number of sales tends to produce big swings in median prices, which can be swayed by changes such as more sales of older and smaller homes or fewer sales of newer and bigger homes.

Single-family homes on Kaua'i sold for a median $524,000 last month, down 23 percent from $681,450 a year earlier. There were 21 sales in March, down 30 percent from 30 a year earlier.

On Maui, the Realtors Association of Maui reported that condo resales slumped by almost half to 48 units. In March a year earlier there were 92 units sold. The median price fell 39 percent to $331,000 from $538,500.

Contributing to the declines were just a trickle of sales in the pricey Wailea /Makena resort area where three condos sold last month for a median $1.7 million compared with 25 sales for a median $2 million a year earlier.

In Kapalua, another Maui resort area, there were no condo sales last month compared with five a year earlier for a median $1.1 million.

Maui single-family home sales were down 45 percent to 52 last month from 95 a year earlier. The median price was down 19 percent to $504,500 from $620,000.

The Big Island's single-family home market was the least depressed, with a 12 percent decrease in sales and a 20 percent decline in the median price, according to Hawai'i Information Service.

There were 91 sales last month, compared with 103 a year earlier. The median price was $313,000 compared with $389,000 in the same period.

In the condo market on the Big Island, sales were down by more than half, or 51 percent, to 24 last month from 49 a year earlier. All of the decrease occurred in the South Kohala and North Kona resort areas of West Hawai'i. There were three sales in South Hilo, which was one more than a year earlier.

The median Big Island condo sale price was $307,250 last month, down 40 percent from $515,000 a year earlier.

In South Hilo, the median was $15,000 last month compared with $87,200 a year earlier.

In South Kohala, the median was $410,000 on seven sales compared with $627,000 on 18 sales in the same period. In North Kona, the median was $322,250 on 14 sales compared with $350,000 on 29 sales.