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: < $263,188 (down 0.5%)
- Mid Tier: $263,188 – $404,715
- Hi Tier: > $404,715 (down slightly)
First up is the straight graph of the index from January 2000 through August 2010.
Here’s a zoom-in, showing just the last year:
After dropping off just slightly the first month after the expiration of the tax credit, the low tier was absolutely hammered in August. However, this month the home price drops were spread throughout all three tiers. The low tier dropped 2.0% MOM, the middle tier fell 1.4%, and the high tier decreased 0.4%.
Here’s a chart of the year-over-year change in the index from January 2003 through August 2010.
All three tiers fell further away from zero YOY change in August. Here’s where the tiers sit YOY as of August – Low: -5.3%, Med: -4.4%, Hi: -0.9%.
Lastly, here’s a decline-from-peak graph like the one posted this morning, but looking only at the Seattle tiers.
At 25.0% off its peak value, the middle tier already hit a new post-peak low in August, while the low tier has fallen the furthest of the three at 28.8% off its peak value.
(Home Price Indices, Standard & Poor’s, 10.26.2010)