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: < $279,094 (down 0.2%)
- Mid Tier: $279,094 – $439,485
- Hi Tier: > $439,485 (up 0.2%)
First up is the straight graph of the index from January 2000 through February 2014.
Here’s a zoom-in, showing just the last year:
The low tier continued to fall in February, but the middle and high tiers both inched up. Between January and February, the low tier fell 0.1%, the middle tier rose 0.4%, and the high tier gained 1.0%.
Here’s a chart of the year-over-year change in the index from January 2003 through February 2014.
Year-over-year changes slipped a bit for the low tier in February, but increased for the middle and high tiers. Here’s where the tiers sit YOY as of February – Low: +17.8%, Med: +14.2%, Hi: +11.2%.
Lastly, here’s a decline-from-peak graph like the one posted yesterday, but looking only at the Seattle tiers.
Current standing is 26.9% off peak for the low tier, 19.0% off peak for the middle tier, and 13.8% off peak for the high tier.
(Home Price Indices, Standard & Poor’s, 04.29.2014)