WAILUKU, Maui — The median price for a single-family home on Maui shot back up to $693,000 in August after prices fell for two consecutive months, the Realtors Association of Maui reported yesterday.

The figure was only a 2 percent increase over July's $679,000 median price but 28 percent higher than the $542,500 mark reported in August 2004.

Although the price was below the all-time high $780,000 median price for a single-family home set in May, Maui still has the highest median home prices in Hawai'i.

Last month's increase in the median home price is in line with strong demand and limited supply in the Maui market, said John Stephens of the Realtors Association of Maui Inc.

"We are seeing a continuation of a long-term trend that is occasionally going to get interrupted," he said.

The median price for a condominium on Maui in August dipped to $365,000 from $380,000 in July, a 3.9 percent decrease.

The median price is the price that falls in the middle of the total number of homes sold in an area.

There were 112 single-family homes sold on Maui in August — one fewer than the 113 sold in July. Condominium sales also fell to 175 in August, down from 220 in July.

Stephens said it's hard to tell what causes monthly sales to slow. But he played down economists' predictions that the island's housing bubble is about to burst, saying instead that prices will keep rising at slower rates for "several years."

"We have so many people that are increasing the demand," Stephens said, adding that low interest rates let low-income buyers afford high-priced homes.

The most expensive single-family home sold on Maui last month went for $1.8 million in Ka'anapali.

Median single-family home prices topped $1 million in three locations in August — Maui Meadows, based on three sales; Wailea/Makena, three sales; and Sprecklesville/Pa'ia/Ku'au, with two sales.

The year-to-date median price for single-family homes in Maui County was $675,000, up 25 percent from $539,000 for the first eight months of last year.

The median price for a condominium rose 28 percent from $292,900 in the first eight months of 2004 to $375,000 for the same eight-month period this year.