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: < $256,254 (down 1.5%)
- Mid Tier: $256,254 – $387,692
- Hi Tier: > $387,692 (down 1.0%)
First up is the straight graph of the index from January 2000 through February 2010.
The low tier tumbled hard in February, dropping 3.1% month-to-month, while the middle and high tier fell 1.0% and 0.4% respectively. All three tiers are now at a new post-peak low. The low tier has “rewound” to November 2004, the middle tier to March 2005, and the high tier to February 2005.
Here’s a chart of the year-over-year change in the index from January 2003 through February 2010.
Now that’s interesting. The year-over-year situation improved slightly again in the middle and high tiers, but dropped a full point for the low tier. Here’s where the tiers sit YOY as of February – Low: -7.1%, Med: -4.8%, Hi: -5.6%.
Lastly, here’s a decline-from-peak graph like the one posted yesterday, but looking only at the Seattle tiers.
Looks like I’m going to have to adjust the vertical scale on that one again soon, as the low tier is just a fraction of a point away from hitting 30% off the peak.
(Home Price Indices, Standard & Poor’s, 04.27.2010)