Maui home prices may be settling down enough to encourage more people to buy again.

For the first time in 13 months, the number of single-family home sales rose on the Valley Island as the median price made its most dramatic decline this year to a 21-month low.

The median, a point at which half the sales were for more and half for less, was $598,795 in November, down 18 percent from $734,500 a year earlier, according to the Realtors Association of Maui. Last month's median price was the lowest since $575,000 in February 2005, and was a big shift in what has been mostly higher prices this year.

Sales surged 27 percent to 109, compared with 86 a year earlier. It was the first time since September 2005 that sales were up for one month over the same month a year earlier.

Steve Hogin, principal broker of ERA Pacific Properties on Maui, said prices for many properties have come down to where it makes sense to buy.

"It was nuts for awhile," he said. "They're getting back to where they're supposed to be."

Hogin said homes in the $600,000 to $650,000 range are moving fast in a market where the median price during the last two years has often been in the $700,000s and hit $780,000 twice.

Jeremy Smith, an agent with Coldwell Banker Island Properties on Maui, said he's not surprised that prices appear to be settling down. "It's gone up so much in the last few years," he said. "The panic has stopped. The sellers are getting more realistic. You have a little correction."

Maui's median single-family home sale price has risen in seven of the first 10 months of this year, mostly by double digits. Of the decreases, the largest was 7 percent in May.

For condominiums, Maui's resale market followed what has been the general trend of fewer sales but at higher median prices.

There were 66 condo sales last month, down 55 percent from 147 sales a year earlier. The median price was $515,000, up 10 percent from $469,000.

Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com.