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Welcome to the Office of Consumer Research (OCR)

The Marketing Department at Middle Tennessee State University received funding from an MTSU Technology Access Fee grant to create the Office of Consumer Research. The Office of Consumer Research uses online surveys to conduct the Tennessee Consumer Outlook Index Survey.  These surveys are conducted through out the year (Winter, Spring, Fall) to measure consumers’ perceptions of economic conditions in the country as a whole as well as in Tennessee. Similar consumer confidence surveys conducted by the Conference Board and the Survey Research Center at the University of Michigan have been shown to be very predictive of key economic indicators such as inflation, interest rates and consumer spending.

The Office of Consumer Research also conducts the Tennessee Business Barometer Survey. This survey measures the perceptions of Tennessee Business Leaders regarding the economy as well as issues that are of most importance to them. These surveys are through out the year (January, May, September) in cooperation with the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The newest report from the Office of Consumer Research is the Tennessee Housing Market Report. This report is released three times per year based on data compiled from the St. Louis FRED, the United States Census Bureau, and the Redfin Data Center. The report includes information and charts on many real estate trends with reference points to the Tennessee, Middle Tennessee, East Tennessee, West Tennessee, and United States housing markets: Median sales price, average days on the market (dom), months of housing market supply, median mortgage payment versus rent, median mortgage payment as a percentage of income, median housing price to income ratio, and housing affordability index.

Results from these surveys are disseminated to local news media. Please click on the links above to read the reports.

We welcome your comments, questions and suggestions. Please contact Dr. Michael Peasley for more information.​