Nashville real estate boom forces food pantry to shutter

Nashville’s “white hot” real estate market means homes in the area are no longer as affordable. It’s also caused a local food pantry to close due to its lease not being renewed.

Realtor Shane Tallant told CBS News that new home listings under $700,000 generate feeding frenzies.

“If that house hits the market, there’s likely 50 showings in the first 24 hours and 10 to 15, if not 25, offers on it,” he said.

Despite rising interest rates, Nashville’s real estate boom has no end in sight. Typical home values in metro-Nashville jumped more than 30% in one year, while the monthly typical home payment shot up 50%.

“If you’re going to come here, get here now because it’s not going to get any cheaper,” Tallant said.

Already in Nashville, the Little Pantry That Could has been forced to close because its five-year lease wasn’t renewed. The pantry, which fed 300 families a week, is located in a neighborhood where developers and investors are scooping up properties.

“We told them they could rely on us and now they can’t,” Stacy Downey, the executive director of the pantry, told CBS News. “I don’t feel like it’s my fault, but yeah, of course, it’s clear we’re letting them down.”

High school teacher Jihan Strange relied on Downey’s pantry to help feed some of her students.

“The most important thing she has given here is hope,” Strange said.

When asked if there was any place in Nashville the pantry could go, Downey said, “Not for what we could afford. Absolutely not.” 

“I love this neighborhood, I love these people,” Downey said. “Because they’re very real.”