The Star Bulletin reports from Hawaii. "Median home prices on the Big Island, saw a 14 percent price drop (from) a year ago. On all the neighbor islands, much like Oahu, the pace of home sales declined dramatically, reflecting a deceleration in the market during August."

"On the Big Island: Only 169 homes were sold in August, compared to 256 at the same time last year. On Kauai: Sales dropped to 35 in August compared to 56 at the same time last year. On Maui: Sales fell to 95 compared to 129 in August 2005."

"'Whether the market turns, whether up or down, resort areas are always the ones to feel it first,' said broker Dana Kenny in Hilo. 'The market has slowed here, and you're seeing some price adjustment.'"

The Honolulu Advertiser. "Sales of previously owned Neighbor Island homes fell sharply in August as demand continued to weaken. Maui's condominium market saw the greatest slump with 66 sales, down 65 percent from 187 in August 2005. There were 95 Maui single-family home sales in August, down 26 percent from 129 a year earlier."

"On Kaua'i there were 35 single-family homes sold sales, down 38 percent from 56 in the same comparable period. There were 29 Kaua'i condos sold, down 52 percent from 60 in the same period."

"In North Kona district, there were 145 vacant lots sold in August, but was that a fraction of the 597 that sold a year ago. A rush to buy lots in Puna district has lost steam, 88 lots sold last month compared to 377 in August 2005. The same thing happened in Kau district, which saw 124 lots sell in August 2005 but only 24 last month."

"The pace of sales in Oahu’s residential real estate market declined dramatically in August. The number of houses sold fell 22.8 percent from the year-earlier. Condominium sales also declined 30.2 percent last month."

"'We had an exceptionally long period of expansion — more than eight years starting from the second quarter of 1997 through the third quarter of last year. Historically, previous 'up' phases in Oahu real estate cycles lasted no longer than five years before normal conditions were restored,' said Harvey Shapiro, research economist at the Board of Realtors."

"While there's no sign of an impending bubble burst in Oahu's housing market, air is slowly seeping out of yesterday's hottest markets such as Kahala, Hawaii Kai and Kailua."

"'We're seeing downward price adjustments in some of the markets that led this cycle's acceleration,' said Scott Higashi, VP for Prudential."

"The median price paid for a single-family home in Waialae-Kahala dropped 12.5 percent in the three months that ended Aug. 31 from the same period a year earlier. Oahu's other most-popular neighborhoods also showed significant declines in prices, with Kailua experiencing a 6.8 percent downturn, Hawaii Kai falling 4.6 percent and the North Shore beginning to flatten, Higashi said."