Let’s check out the three price tiers for the Seattle area, as measured by Case-Shiller. Remember, Case-Shiller’s “Seattle” data is based on single-family home repeat sales in King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties.
Note that the tiers are determined by sale volume. In other words, 1/3 of all sales fall into each tier. For more details on the tier methodologies, hit the full methodology pdf. Here are the current tier breakpoints:
- Low Tier: < $247,918 (down 0.3%)
- Mid Tier: $247,918 – $395,019
- Hi Tier: > $395,019 (up 0.2%)
First up is the straight graph of the index from January 2000 through July 2011.
Here’s a zoom-in, showing just the last year:
Despite the fact that the low and middle tiers both fell, the tiny gain in the high tier was somehow enough to lift the overall index into the black for the month. Apparently the Index works in mysterious ways. The low tier fell 0.7% MOM, the middle tier dropped 0.1%, and the high tier gained 0.1%.
Here’s a chart of the year-over-year change in the index from January 2003 through July 2011.
More ground lost for the low tier as well as the high tier, despite its month-to-month bump. Here’s where the tiers sit YOY as of July – Low: -16.0%, Med: -9.1%, Hi: -4.0%.
Lastly, here’s a decline-from-peak graph like the one posted yesterday, but looking only at the Seattle tiers.
Current standing is 39.0% off peak for the low tier, 30.8% off peak for the middle tier, and 25.5% off peak for the high tier.
(Home Price Indices, Standard & Poor’s, 09.27.2011)