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: < $245,416 (down 1.0%)
- Mid Tier: $245,416 – $392,755
- Hi Tier: > $392,755 (down 0.6%)
First up is the straight graph of the index from January 2000 through August 2011.
Here’s a zoom-in, showing just the last year:
Teeny-tiny increase for the low tier, while the high and middle tiers both lost ground. That’s a bit of a switch from recent months. The low tier rose 0.04% MOM, the middle tier dropped 0.1%, and the high tier lost 0.6%.
Here’s a chart of the year-over-year change in the index from January 2003 through August 2011.
Only the high tier worsened in this chart. The low and middle tier both saw a bit of a bump. Here’s where the tiers sit YOY as of August – Low: -14.3%, Med: -8.0%, Hi: -4.2%.
Lastly, here’s a decline-from-peak graph like the one posted yesterday, but looking only at the Seattle tiers.
Current standing is 38.9% off peak for the low tier, 30.9% off peak for the middle tier, and 25.9% off peak for the high tier.
(Home Price Indices, Standard & Poor’s, 10.25.2011)