The Star Bulletin reports from Hawaii. "The number of previously owned homes sold on the neighbor islands continued to plummet in September, most dramatically on Kauai, according to figures released yesterday. Median home prices on Kauai fell 12.2 percent. On Oahu, home sales fell about 20 percent in September while the median home price remained fairly steady."

"Hawaii's softening residential real estate market reflects a national trend, said Calvin Mobbs, president of the Realtors Association of Maui. 'I think the market is going to continue to slow down in the single-family housing market,' Mobbs said. 'This is a pause that the market needs to take.'"

"In September, Maui sold half the number of homes that sold a year earlier. The story was the same for condominium sales on Maui, which dropped dramatically at a median price of $499,000, compared a median price of $405,000 last year."

"On the Big Island and Kauai, sales also declined dramatically. Only 132 houses sold on the Big Island in September, down 43 percent from 233 sold the same month a year ago. Some 37 homes sold on Kauai in September, down 49 percent from 72 sold the same month a year ago."

"Condominiums on the Big Island and Kauai fared no better. Only 46 condos on the Big Island were sold in September, despite a drop in the median price to $341,000. Some 126 condos sold the same month a year ago at a median price of $424,900."

"Broker Debra Blachowiak on Kauai, said she wasn't surprised by the dip in sales. Buyers are no longer in a hurry to snatch up properties in the face of increasing prices. 'Buyers are holding back a little bit to see what happens,' she said. 'Last year, this time, and maybe a year and a half ago, it was the complete opposite. People thought, 'If we don't buy, prices are going to go up.'"

"There are fewer speculators, she said, and more owners looking for a home to live in. 'I don't expect a crash, but there are not as many speculators,' Blachowiak said."

The Honolulu Advertiser. "The sharpest decline in September transactions was for condominiums on the Big Island, where there were 45 sales, a 64 percent drop compared with 126 sales a year earlier. Maui transactions were hit hard, too, with a 59 percent drop in condo sales to 66 from 160, and a 50 percent drop for single-family home sales to 61 from 122 in the same period."

"'The number of properties sold continues to taper off impressively,' said Terry Tolman, chief executive of the Realtors Association of Maui, which released the Maui data."