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: < $252,611 (down 0.6%)
- Mid Tier: $252,611 – $403,620
- Hi Tier: > $403,620 (down 0.6%)
First up is the straight graph of the index from January 2000 through February 2013.
Here’s a zoom-in, showing just the last year:
The middle tier took a bit of a hit in February, the high tier was basically flat, and the low tier increased. Between January and February, the low tier rose 0.5%, the middle tier was down 0.7%, and the high tier lost 0.1%.
Here’s a chart of the year-over-year change in the index from January 2003 through February 2013.
The biggest gainer in year-over-year growth was the high tier this month, which had a 1.5-point boost. Here’s where the tiers sit YOY as of February – Low: +10.0%, Med: +10.5%, Hi: +9.0%.
Lastly, here’s a decline-from-peak graph like the one posted yesterday, but looking only at the Seattle tiers.
Current standing is 37.9% off peak for the low tier, 29.1% off peak for the middle tier, and 22.5% off peak for the high tier.
(Home Price Indices, Standard & Poor’s, 04.30.2013)