The Memphis real estate market is recovering much more strongly than the rest of the state of Tennessee. Initially, Tennessee was not hit hard at all by the sub prime mortgage crisis in particular or the economic recession in general. The exact reason for this is not known, but the phenomenon did not last much longer for the majority of the state. Memphis, however, has remained something of a model for the rest of the nation, maintaining a relatively strong position in the national market. According to Realtor Danny Freeman's blog in the Realty Times, “There are currently almost 5,000 homes for sale in the Memphis market in all price ranges. Our midtown and downtown resurgence is amazing.”
According to Chris Peck's July 19, 2009 article in the Memphis Commercial Appeal, “The good old days, whenever they were, are not likely to return. The good new days ahead are worth more attention. Things that once seemed impossible to change, or totally rooted, suddenly can be put on the table.. The question now is how each of us can help make Memphis thrive.” Simply put, the Memphis real estate market depends greatly on individual efforts as much as it does on national conditions such as interest rates and home sales. There is a potential problem in the so-called jumbo real estate market, as reported in the Orange County Register - “In the Memphis area, sales of properties over $400,000 have fallen 58% through May with just 189 sales, compared to the high of 408 for the same period in 2007.”
According to another article in the Memphis Business Journal, “Pending home sales in the Memphis area showed month-to-month improvement in May, but still the market is showing significant declines from a year ago in the areas of sales and prices. Total pending sales increased 5.5% from April, but dropped 8.8% from a year ago, according to the Memphis Area Association of Realtors.” Two things can be gleaned from these figures - first that Memphis was never hit especially hard by the crisis, and second that the Memphis real estate market is rebounding healthily.