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 May 2014.
Here’s a zoom-in, showing just the last year:
As is normal for this time of year, prices continued to increase in all three tiers. However, not all home price increases are created equal. Compared to April’s month-over-month gains, the low tier saw an increase, the middle tier was about the same, and the high tier slowed down. Between April and May, the low tier increased 1.7%, the middle tier rose 1.3%, and the high tier gained 1.3%.
Here’s a chart of the year-over-year change in the index from January 2003 through May 2014.
Year-over-year changes also continued to slide in all three tiers. Here’s where the tiers sit YOY as of May – Low: +14.7%, Med: +8.6%, Hi: +9.3%.
Lastly, here’s a decline-from-peak graph like the one posted yesterday, but looking only at the Seattle tiers.
Current standing is 23.0% off peak for the low tier, 15.1% off peak for the middle tier, and 8.8% off peak for the high tier.
(Home Price Indices, Standard & Poor’s, 07.29.2014)