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: < $287,114 (down 0.4%)
- Mid Tier: $287,114 – $451,875
- Hi Tier: > $451,875 (down 0.6%)
First up is the straight graph of the index from January 2000 through October 2013.
Here’s a zoom-in, showing just the last year:
The middle and high tiers both turned from gains to losses in October, but the low tier kept going up (barely). Between September and October, the low tier rose 0.1%, the middle tier was down 0.1%, and the high tier lost 0.4%.
Here’s a chart of the year-over-year change in the index from January 2003 through October 2013.
Year-over-year changes were still double-digits for all three tiers in October. The low tier increased even more while the middle and high tiers both fell. Here’s where the tiers sit YOY as of October – Low: +21.1%, Med: +15.1%, Hi: +11.1%.
Lastly, here’s a decline-from-peak graph like the one posted yesterday, but looking only at the Seattle tiers.
Current standing is 25.8% off peak for the low tier, 17.9% off peak for the middle tier, and 13.8% off peak for the high tier.
(Home Price Indices, Standard & Poor’s, 12.31.2013)