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: < $238,188 (up 2.4%)
- Mid Tier: $238,188 – $377,643
- Hi Tier: > $377,643 (up 2.3%)
First up is the straight graph of the index from January 2000 through April 2012.
Here’s a zoom-in, showing just the last year:
The low tier finally stopped falling in April, and in fact turned in the biggest month to month gain. The low tier rose 2.0% MOM, the middle tier rose 1.3%, and the high tier gained 1.5%.
Here’s a chart of the year-over-year change in the index from January 2003 through April 2012.
Slight dip in the high tier (but still in the black), flat for the middle tier, and a big improvement for the low tier. Here’s where the tiers sit YOY as of April – Low: -8.7%, Med: -1.6%, Hi: +0.3%.
Lastly, here’s a decline-from-peak graph like the one posted yesterday, but looking only at the Seattle tiers.
Current standing is 43.1% off peak for the low tier, 33.7% off peak for the middle tier, and 26.8% off peak for the high tier, all three tiers up off their lows.
(Home Price Indices, Standard & Poor’s, 06.26.2012)