A new report shows home prices are vastly outpacing wage increases in Middle Tennessee counties, including Davidson County.
ATTOM Data Solutions compared federally reported sales deeds and wages from the past year in a new report to find that wage growth was only 2 percent in Davidson County, whereas home prices increased 8 percent to a median home price of $243,500.
The discrepancy was even larger in other counties.
In Rutherford County, wage growth was only 1 percent, while home prices were up 13 percent to an average median home price of $204,000.
Sumner County saw the biggest discrepancy in growth, with only a 1 percent wage growth and a 15-percent home price growth, with the median home price at $212,000.
Other area counties showed similar discrepancies, with wage growth in both Williamson and Montgomery counties at 2 percent with home prices increasing 8 percent. The median home price in Williamson County was $415,000 and the median home price in Montgomery County was $149,500.
The numbers show that it is becoming less affordable to live in Middle Tennessee. While the numbers in the past year show the discrepancy in wage growth versus home price growth, it has been a trend that has been in the mid-state for years.
Many advocates for affordable housing have been fighting to change that trend, but with Middle Tennessee becoming a hot-spot in the country, many people are moving to the area from other parts of the country where home prices are much higher, so they’re willing to pay
more for their homes.
The one county that saw home prices drop, according to ATTOM, was Wilson County. Home prices dropped 3 percent in the past year, but wages also dropped 1 percent. That shows that Wilson County became more affordable in the past year, but according to ATTOM, the county is still unaffordable for the average person who lives there, with a median home price of $238,581.
