Sales of previously owned single-family homes on Maui skidded hard last month to a 10-year low.

There were 56 sales in January compared with 106 in the same month last year and 86 in December. The last time the sales tally was lower for any month was November 1998, when there were 47 sales, according to sales data from the Realtors Association of Maui.

Terry Tolman, chief executive of the trade association for Maui real estate agents, said January's sales level was surprising but could be just an extreme bump in Maui's choppy market where sales have often bounced up and down monthly since peaking in mid-2005.

"I was surprised by that low number," he said. "I'm not panicked about it. We could be looking at a trough that in a month or two could see a pickup. Only time will tell if it bounces right back or not."

The sales drop was concentrated in Central Maui, the island's most active housing region, where there were 23 purchases last month compared with 48 a year earlier.

But the decline also was spread over other areas such as Pukalani, where there was one sale last month, versus eight a year earlier, and Kula/'Ulupalakua/Kanaio, where there were no sales, versus seven in the same comparable period.

Maui's major resort areas of Ka'anapali, Kapalua and Wailea/Makena produced only two sales, both in Ka'anapali last month.

A year earlier, there were 12 sales among the three areas.

The reduction of resort home sales where median prices are typically more than $1 million helped bring down Maui's overall median single-family home price by 5 percent to $574,113 in January, from $602,000 a year earlier.

Maui's condominium market fared better, with a modest drop in sales and a small gain in the median price.

There were 89 condo sales last month, down 10 percent from 99 sales a year earlier. The median price was $610,000, a 2 percent gain over $600,000, in the same comparable period.

The condominium market results in January give some observers confidence that broader market stability will be maintained this year on Maui. But significant weakness last month also appeared in vacant-land deals, with six sales compared with 15 a year earlier and 13 in December. The last time there were fewer than six land sales was January 1997.

Inventory hasn't changed much in the past several months, hovering around 1,000 single-family homes for most of last year and ending January at about 1,155 homes. Condo inventory for most of last year had been around 1,300 and ended January at about 1,500 condos.

Tolman said a clearer picture of where Maui's residential real estate market is headed will likely take at least a few more months to see if a trend emerges.

For any county housing market in Hawai'i, one month of data indicates little about the market's condition. But because Maui is one of the smaller local markets, changes from one month to the next tend to be more volatile.

Generally, Hawai'i's statewide housing market has seen fewer sales in the past two years or so.

January sales were reported earlier this month for homes on other major Hawaiian islands with transactions either down or flat, and varying moves in median prices.

On O'ahu, single-family home sales declined 13 percent last month over a year earlier while the median price was unchanged at $600,000. O'ahu condo sales were down 23 percent, and the median price was up 1.3 percent to $324,000.

On the Big Island, single-family home sales in January declined 31 percent while the median price was down 20 percent to $324,000. Big Island condo sales fell 53 percent, and the median price was up 11 percent to $444,444.

On Kaua'i, single-family home sales in January were down 40 percent, and the median price was down 21 percent to $630,000. Kaua'i condominium sales were unchanged, and the median price was up 29 percent to $586,000.

Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com.