Median prices for homes sold on Hawaii island and Kauai last month moved in opposite directions as sales volume was mostly higher, according to Hawaii Island Realtors and Kauai Board of Realtors data in a Hawaii Information Service report issued Sunday.

On Hawaii island, median sale prices rose for both single-family houses and condominiums while the opposite was true for transactions on Kauai.

The report showed that single-family homes on Hawaii island sold for a median $342,000 in January, up 18 percent from $290,450 in the same month last year.

Condos on Hawaii island sold for a median $347,000, up 37 percent from $254,000 in the same comparable period.

The median price gains are big but don’t necessarily reflect such a change in inherent real estate values because relatively few sales make it easy to have major swings in the median price, which is a point at which half the sales are for more and half for less. The median also can be affected by the age, size, quality and location of homes sold.

For example, there were 56 condos sold on Hawaii island last month compared with 54 a year earlier. At the low end of the market in South Hilo, there were just two sales last month for a median $163,750 compared with six sales for a median $106,750 a year earlier. Fewer sales at the low end of the market helps lift the median price for the whole island.

Also uplifting the broad median price were condo sales in South Kohala, which is part of the market’s high end. There were 19 sales in this region for a median $449,500 in January compared with 12 sales for a median $377,500 a year earlier.

Sales volume for single-family homes on Hawaii island slipped 6 percent to 146 last month from 156 a year earlier.

On Kauai the number of single-family home sales jumped 53 percent to 49 last month from 32 a year earlier. The median price dipped 3 percent to $625,000 from $645,000.

There were 39 Kauai condo sales last month compared with 36 a year ago, and the median price sank 37 percent to $301,000 from $477,500. Most of the drop was due to 14 condos in the Koloa region, which includes the Poipu resort area, that sold for a median $262,000 last month compared with 13 sales for a median $773,908 a year earlier.