According to a Wells Fargo survey mentioned in this Nashville Business Journal article, Survey: 25% of homeowners have no savings, 25% of homeowners have no savings to cover their living expenses if they were to lose their jobs. The article mentions the significant stress that this is causing and the drastic measures people are taking to reduce their expenses.
In my opinion this is going to cause more foreclosures and short sales, particularly in areas where the median home prices are still too high relative to the median incomes (think FL, CA, NV and AR). The foreclosure and short sale problems will only get worse as the economy weakens and unemployment increases.
Given that Middle Tennessee (in particular Murfreesboro TN, Smyrna TN and La Vergne TN in Rutherford County) has higher than average foreclosures and short sales I think it is reasonable to conclude that people here also have less than required savings. This financial stress will continue to hurt the Middle TN housing market.
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