Memphis carries $791M of CMBS across 45 loans, and the standout stress sits in the one sector underwriters lean on for durability. Multifamily here runs a 29.9% distress rate — the highest of any sector in the metro, well above the 7.6% national figure and roughly four times the national mark. That is a special-servicing-or-60-days number, a status already declared, not a forecast, and it lands on a book whose overall distress rate reads 6.2% as of July 2026, a figure that has been rising in the filed record.
The maturity wall is loaded toward the back end. The heaviest single year is 2032, with $206M coming due — 26% of the entire book — though that vintage currently shows no distress. The near-term picture is more mixed: earlier maturity years already carry declared distress in the record even as median DSCR across the metro holds at 1.77.
The on-the-ground signal reinforces the read. Memphis logged 38 distress events over the past year — store closures and layoff notices combined — tied to 2,914 jobs. For desks watching this metro, multifamily is the line item that separates Memphis from the national tape.
In Memphis, TN-MS-AR, three of the four distress signals are elevated, with 3 pairs both elevated and 3 pairs disagreeing out of 6 total pairs. Store closures are elevated at 14 closures, ranking 32nd of 392 by count and 108th by rate (2.62 per 100k jobs). Layoff notices are elevated at 20 notices, ranking 34th of 386 by count and 30th by rate (0.49% of employment). Bank CRE at lenders over the noncurrent line is elevated at $557.3 million, ranking 55th of 393 by count but only 200th by rate (3.25%)—elevated by size, not by rate, so this is a statement about how big the metro is. Securitized loans in special servicing are not elevated, at 4 rows with a rate of 6.19% and rankings of 42nd by count and 64th by rate of 335 metros. The disagreements are structural: closures are hot while the securitized book is quiet (retail failing on buildings the tape does not hold), WARN is hot while the tape is quiet (employers cutting but the securitized book has not moved), and bank CRE is hot while the tape is cold (lenders stressed on a book the tape cannot see). No reading is unavailable.
| Signal | Level | Rate | Rank by count | Rank by rate | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| store closures store closures per 100,000 jobs |
14 closures | 2.62 per 100k jobs | 32 of 392 | 108 of 392 | elevated trailing 365 days to today
|
| layoff notices (WARN) workers on layoff notices as a share of the metro's employment |
20 notices | 0.49% | 34 of 386 | 30 of 386 | elevated trailing 365 days to today
|
| bank CRE at lenders over the noncurrent line share of the CRE lent into this metro that sits at a lender over the blended-noncurrent line |
$557.3mm | 3.25% | 55 of 393 | 200 of 393 | elevated
allocated 2026-03-31
|
| securitized loans in special servicing share of the securitized balance read here that is in special servicing |
4 loan records | 6.19% | 42 of 335 | 64 of 335 | quiet 2026-07-29
|
In Memphis, TN-MS-AR, the elevated distress signals are bank-distressed CRE, closures, and WARN notices: bank CRE at risk at the 90th percentile is 25.8%, with distressed lender CRE of $557.3mm. Additionally, the metro has seen 14 store closures and 20 WARN notices over the past year. The reading for CMBS special-servicing activity is unavailable — while the special-servicing UPB is $49.0mm, the share of metro UPB is not provided.
| Bank | Deposit share | CRE / Capital* | Room contributed | Noncurrent CRE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Bank Of Fayette County TN | 78.1% | 145% total 279%
|
🔒 | 1.16% |
| Independent Bank TN | 30.5% | 114% total 138%
|
🔒 | 2.84% |
| Fidelity Bank AR | 98.1% | 167% total 214%
|
🔒 | 0.00% |
| Trustmark Bank MS | 6.5% | 237% total 298%
|
🔒 | 0.17% |
| Patriot Bank TN | 100.0% | 182% total 279%
|
🔒 | 0.71% |
| First Security Bank MS | 37.7% | 189% total 298%
|
🔒 | 0.20% |
| Bank3 TN | 75.5% | 209% total 328%
|
🔒 | 0.00% |
| Bankfirst Financial Services MS | 14.0% | 219% total 317%
|
🔒 | 0.32% |
| Planters Bank & Trust Company MS | 17.4% | 236% total 301%
|
🔒 | 0.61% |
| Southern Bancorp Bank AR | 8.0% | 174% total 246%
|
🔒 | 1.17% |
| Banktennessee TN | 64.6% | 236% total 286%
|
🔒 | 1.24% |
| Bankplus MS | 4.6% | 235% total 371%
|
🔒 | 0.63% |
| First Financial Bank AR | 6.6% | 132% total 201%
|
🔒 | 4.49% |
| Community Bank Of Mississippi MS | 4.9% | 202% total 310%
|
🔒 | 0.06% |
| Guaranty Bank And Trust Company MS | 20.8% | 272% total 368%
|
🔒 | 1.05% |
| Firstbank TN | 2.6% | 269% total 386%
|
🔒 | 0.97% |
| Story Bank Dba Story Financial Partners MS | 17.1% | 244% total 366%
|
🔒 | 0.79% |
| First National Bank Of Eastern Arkansas AR | 15.9% | 220% total 252%
|
🔒 | 0.15% |
| The Citizens National Bank Of Meridian MS | 6.5% | 248% total 334%
|
🔒 | 0.68% |
| Security Bank And Trust Company TN | 3.0% | 237% total 277%
|
🔒 | 0.00% |
| Decatur County Bank TN | 5.9% | 202% total 274%
|
🔒 | 0.97% |
| Insouth Bank TN | 55.3% | 295% total 400%
|
🔒 | 3.53% |
| Partners Bank AR | 11.3% | 288% total 361%
|
🔒 | 0.00% |
| Paragon Bank TN | 82.2% | 321% total 423%
|
🔒 | 0.23% |
| Bank | Total CRE | CRE / Capital* | Noncurrent CRE | Early Warning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bank Of Holly Springs | $168M | 95% total 219%
|
3.10% | 🔒 |
| Independent Bank | $270M | 114% total 138%
|
2.84% | 🔒 |
| Evolve Bank & Trust | $258M | 101% total 154%
|
1.52% | 🔒 |
| The Bank Of Fayette County | $300M | 145% total 279%
|
1.16% | 🔒 |
| Banktennessee | $190M | 236% total 286%
|
1.24% | 🔒 |
| First Horizon Bank | $22.5B | 143% total 235%
|
1.12% | 🔒 |
| Patriot Bank | $128M | 182% total 279%
|
0.71% | 🔒 |
| Unity Bank Of Mississippi | $88M | 69% total 282%
|
0.28% | 🔒 |
On the evidence here, Memphis, TN-MS-AR looks adequately served rather than strained: banks_qualifying of 24 against banks_excluded_here of 9, with explained_by_exclusion false, means the local-bank reading is not simply an exclusion artifact, and the maturing wall it must absorb is small — maturing_bal_mm of $134.0mm across maturing_loans of 5. Against that, room_before_committed is $834.7mm and room_after_committed is $450.7mm once committed_draws of $521.8mm are deducted, leaving wall_to_room of 0.30 and wall_to_room_before_committed_draws of 0.16. At 0.30 the ratio is ABOVE the median of 0.20, so this metro is MORE strained than the typical ranked metro, ranking 116 of 270, but the 6.2% distressed_share applies to a cmbs_upb of $790.9mm rather than to the maturing balance. The caveat still binds: room is a proxy built on deposit footprint, and the wall is the CMBS balance maturing within 24 months — the maturing debt this platform can see, not the metro's whole maturity load — so every ratio is an upper bound on how much of it local banks would have to absorb.
| REIT | SS NOI | SS Revenue | Occupancy | Rent | As Of |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MAA | -12.1% | -1.1% | 94.6% | -0.7% | 2026-07-29 |
Over the last 365, the Memphis, TN-MS-AR metro recorded 18 store closures and 20 WARN notices, with 2,914 jobs affected — noting that affected_employees is nullable, so notices that state no headcount are counted but contribute 0 jobs, making this a floor. CRE-likely bankruptcies in the states this metro's collateral sits in came to 0, though that figure is a STATE PROXY — bankruptcy filings carry the filer's state, not the property's location, so it counts CRE-likely filings in the states this metro's collateral sits in and is not a metro-native count.