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: < $256,269 (up 1.9%)
- Mid Tier: $256,269 – $409,553
- Hi Tier: > $409,553 (up 2.1%)
First up is the straight graph of the index from January 2000 through June 2012.
Here’s a zoom-in, showing just the last year:
All three tiers keep gaining ground. Between June and July, the low tier rose 2.5%, the middle tier increased 1.3%, and the high tier gained 1.4%.
Here’s a chart of the year-over-year change in the index from January 2003 through July 2012.
The low tier is still the only one not yet back in black. Given the recent trend it would not be surprising to see it hit that point with next month’s data. Here’s where the tiers sit YOY as of July – Low: -1.8%, Med: +1.7%, Hi: +4.1%.
Lastly, here’s a decline-from-peak graph like the one posted yesterday, but looking only at the Seattle tiers.
Current standing is 40.1% off peak for the low tier, 29.7% off peak for the middle tier, and 22.4% off peak for the high tier.
(Home Price Indices, Standard & Poor’s, 09.25.2012)