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: < $256,154 (down 0.7%)
- Mid Tier: $256,154 – $408,283
- Hi Tier: > $408,283 (down 0.9%)
First up is the straight graph of the index from January 2000 through December 2012.
Here’s a zoom-in, showing just the last year:
All three tiers dropped slightly in December, following the typical seasonal trend for this time of year. Between November and December, the low tier fell 0.1%, the middle tier was down 0.2%, and the high tier lost 0.5%.
Here’s a chart of the year-over-year change in the index from January 2003 through December 2012.
The middle tier was the first to mark double-digit gains in December. Here’s where the tiers sit YOY as of December – Low: +5.2%, Med: +11.1%, Hi: +8.2%.
Lastly, here’s a decline-from-peak graph like the one posted yesterday, but looking only at the Seattle tiers.
Current standing is 38.5% off peak for the low tier, 28.4% off peak for the middle tier, and 22.4% off peak for the high tier.
(Home Price Indices, Standard & Poor’s, 02.26.2013)