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: < $306,265 (up 0.5%)
- Mid Tier: $306,265 – $488,630
- Hi Tier: > $488,630 (up 0.6%)
First up is the straight graph of the index from January 2000 through February 2016.
Here’s a zoom-in, showing just the last year:
All three tiers increased once again in February. The high tier had decreased in January, but saw the largest increase in February.
Between January and February, the low tier increased 0.6 percent, the middle tier rose 0.8 percent, and the high tier was up 1.4 percent.
Here’s a chart of the year-over-year change in the index from January 2003 through February 2016.
Year-over-year price growth was up in the middle and high tiers compared to January. It was down slightly in the low tier, but still double-digits. Here’s where the tiers sit YOY as of February – Low: +10.5 percent, Med: +12.3 percent, Hi: +10.5 percent.
Lastly, here’s a decline-from-peak graph like the one posted yesterday for the various Case-Shiller markets, but looking only at the Seattle tiers.
Current standing is 10.4 percent off peak for the low tier, 3.7 percent off peak for the middle tier, and 1.4 percent above the 2007 peak for the high tier.
(Home Price Indices, Standard & Poor’s, 2016-04-26)