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: < $275,217 (up 1.3%)
- Mid Tier: $275,217 – $443,041
- Hi Tier: > $443,041 (up 1.6%)
First up is the straight graph of the index from January 2000 through April 2014.
Here’s a zoom-in, showing just the last year:
The low and middle tiers saw growth slow dramatically compared to a month earlier, but the high tier sped up, pulling the overall index with it. Between March and April, the low tier increased 1.3%, the middle tier rose 1.4%, and the high tier gained 2.7%.
Here’s a chart of the year-over-year change in the index from January 2003 through April 2014.
Year-over-year changes slipped further for the low and middle tiers, but increased for the high tier. Here’s where the tiers sit YOY as of April – Low: +16.6%, Med: +10.2%, 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 24.3% off peak for the low tier, 16.2% off peak for the middle tier, and 10.0% off peak for the high tier.
(Home Price Indices, Standard & Poor’s, 06.24.2014)