Home prices jumped in Danville in 2012 from what felt like anywhere from five to fifteen percent, depending on the area. But are things really getting better? And are home prices really going up for everyone in town?

To find out, I went back and charted the median sales prices for Danville’s Top, Middle, and Bottom third of homes sold, by Quarter, since 2005. Q2 of 2006 represented the top of the market.

You can clearly see the bump upwards in the middle of 2009. This is about six months after the first 2008 foreclosure moratoriums kicked in. Once the inventory sold off, supply dried up and prices began to stabilize.

Then, there was kind of a very slow bleed until the beginning of 2012. I still haven’t come to grips with what exactly happened to trigger such a change… what factors existed in February of 2012 that didn’t in September of 2011?

Anyways, the REAL story here is that the party may be ending. Even though the most expensive Tier is continuing to see prices run up, the Mid and Bottom Tiers have seen declines in the second half of the year.

It will be interesting to see which direction 2013 takes us.