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: < $267,042
- Mid Tier: $267,042 – $392,156
- Hi Tier: > $392,156
First up is the straight graph of the index from January 2000 through April 2009.
All three tiers bumped up in April, just like last year. The low and high tiers both bumped up 0.28%, while the middle tier increased just 0.03% The low tier has rewound to March 2005, the middle and the high tiers to May 2005 (all the same as March’s data).
Here’s a chart of the year-over-year change in the index from January 2003 through April 2009.
The low tier actually saw a slight moderation in YOY declines in April, similar to the blip we saw in the high tier in February. Here’s where the tiers sit YOY as of April – Low: -18.4%, Med: -16.3%, Hi: -16.4%.
Lastly, here’s a decline-from-peak graph like the one posted yesterday, but looking only at the Seattle tiers.
Whereas April 2008 resulted in a bit of a bump in the chart, April 2009 looks like more of a plateau.
(Home Price Indices, Standard & Poor’s, 06.30.2009)