The Tennessee Real Estate Market has been and continues to be relatively lucky in terms of the effects of the sub-prime mortgage market and overall economic recession. According to a July report by the California company RealtyTrac, Incorporated, Tennessee was below the median rate of foreclosures during the second quarter of 2009, which consists of April, May, and June. Tennessee was number twenty one in the United States, with a rate of one foreclosure per 260 housing units, for a total of just under ten thousand five hundred foreclosures. Unfortunately, these figures represent a 1.1% increase over the first three months of 2009, although they are a substantial drop, almost 13%, since one year ago. This would seem to indicate that Tennessee may be entering a recovery period.

The retail or commercial sector of the Tennessee real estate market has shown several signs of strength and recovery in the last few months. According to Laura Trezevant, Principal of Trezevant Commercial Brokerage, Incorporated, “I'm seeing more of my clients ready to expand in this market. A tight lending market has impacted retail real estate purchases...I'm feeling very optimistic that we've hit the bottom.” The industrial section of the Tennessee real estate market is not in such great shape, however. According to Dan Wilkinson, Chairman of Colliers Wilkinson Snowden, “There's still activity and I don't think it's any more than what we've had over the past 3-4 months. Some companies are looking for large blocks of space in the Memphis market, but nothing is happening anytime soon.”

Xceligent, Incorporated found that there are still 1.5 million square feet of available sublease space, representing a total of 13.3% vacancies. An article in the July 17, 2009 Memphis Business Journal found that “The residential real estate market has bounced along the bottom for so long, industry real estate and housing professionals believe the only direction it can go now is up.”Glenn A. Moore, President-elect of the Memphis Area Association of Realtors, said that “I feel that we have reached a regular, sustainable pace in activity in the residential market; that is the first factor I've watched for in our industry's recovery and feel we have reached that point.