College towns across the country have seen median home list prices surge by double digits since name, image and likeness (NIL) deals became legal for student-athletes in 2021, according to HousingWire Data.
While numerous factors have contributed to home price surges this decade, a new demographic of young and suddenly wealthy athletes entering the housing market has been eagerly welcomed.
David Christensen — founder and strategic adviser of eXp Realty’s Sports & Entertainment division — said the trend reflects a fundamental shift in who’s buying homes in college markets.
“This has been a topic of conversation very specifically about NIL because, if you think about it, we now have an entirely new group of young athletes that have access to resources that they didn’t have before NIL came about,” he told HousingWire.
“We really wanted to figure out a way to provide a safe space for those athletes and those people in that arena, that were now having options to get into the housing market that they may not have had previously.”
Looking at median prices in college markets in the lead-up to NIL going into effect (2019-2020) and the NIL era (2021 to present), Blacksburg, Virginia, home to Virginia Tech, led the group with a 47% increase, moving from $241,820 to $355,741.
Athens-Clarke County, Georgia — home to the University of Georgia — was right behind at 45%, climbing from $314,366 to $457,172. Bloomington, Indiana, jumped 42%, from $244,353 to $345,940. Tucson, Arizona, rose 39%, from $294,419 to $409,863.
Knoxville, Tennessee, was up 38%, from $333,024 to $459,405.
Ryan Coleman, broker and founder at Knoxville-based Hometown Realty, has overseen several deals with University of Tennessee athletes.
I think it’s a great opportunity for business owners and agents to support our local youth — student athletes — and also the community,” he said. “It’s more of a local field, really. We deal with Learfield, who manages all these agencies across the U.S., so you’re seeing a big, big impact from NIL from when we started back during COVID.
“I think it’s helped revenue locally in our area. Our [designated market area] in Knoxville has grown so much, just an explosion of growth.”
Further down the list but still significant: Tallahassee, Florida, up 30%; Eugene-Springfield, Oregon, up 30%; State College, Pennsylvania, up 29%; Gainesville, Florida, up 27%; Syracuse, New York, up 27%; and Tuscaloosa, Alabama, up 26%.
College Station, Texas, is up 22%; Baton Rouge, Louisiana, up 21%; and Ann Arbor, Michigan, up 18%, according to HousingWire Data.
Best practices for working with student-athletes
Christensen said the athletes he works with are often more financially sophisticated than the public assumes.
“I think there has been a misnomer about young people and athletes about buying the Lamborghini and the chain,” he said. “I think we’re seeing a really smart, intuitive, thoughtful group of people that’s saying, ‘Hey, this could really be a way for me to build some generational wealth for my family, to kind of do something that’s important for me and to look beyond that next chapter — if for whatever reason I don’t go to the NFL or to wherever another sporting career has its natural end. It’s been exciting to have those conversations.”
Coleman’s clients have included former University of Tennessee and current Dallas Cowboys quarterback Joe Milton III.
“Whether you’re a bigger company or you’re a smaller firm, as an agent or individual, you know your brand is important,” Coleman said. “So, make sure you choose [student-athlete clients] wisely — somebody will reflect your beliefs and character. I think character is big. A lot of these people are very young student-athletes.”
eXp Realty is partnering with former New England Patriots defensive end Jarvis Green — a two-time Super Bowl champion — to educate athletes on their new financial options, Christensen added.
“[Green} has been a very successful entrepreneur,” he said. “It was kind of on his heart because he was seeing all these kids now having these totally new funding opportunities and not always making the best decisions. He wanted to figure out how to create this space for them to get good, vetted resources and insights and thought processes about how to make these decisions.”
Inventory tightens, demand pressures supply
Alongside rising prices, active inventory dropped sharply in the NIL era compared to pre-NIL levels, according to HousingWire Data.
Ann Arbor saw the steepest decline at 56%, Syracuse fell 49%, State College 36%, Blacksburg 35%, Bloomington 33%, Baton Rouge 33% and Tucson 31%.
Tuscaloosa is the one clear outlier — inventory actually surged over 200% in the NIL era, from an average of 138 weekly active listings to 443.
“I think if you look at Nashville, if you look at Miami, if you look at Southern California, there’s so much activity,” Christensen said. “Funnily enough, I’m in New Hampshire, and Dartmouth and [University of New Hampshire], per capita for size of school, have very aggressive NIL programs. So, we’re seeing it across the board but certainly Nashville and Miami are two huge ones.”
New demographic, long-term potential
The emergence of NIL athletes as homebuyers comes as the average first-time homebuying age has risen to 40, according to industry reports — making homeownership increasingly elusive for people in their early 20s.
“I think our programs and our athletic department has grown and really worked in both women’s sports, basketball, softball, baseball, football, everything,” Coleman said. “I mean, across the board, it’s delivering some really good athletes and good character athletes as a whole. They’ve carried over to the Olympics and also in the pros, so they’ve been doing well.”
Christensen said providing guidance to young athletes with new resources is a positive development for the industry.
“I think anything that we do as an industry to make it easier for people to experience the American dream of homeownership is the right way to go,” he said. “As anybody in our space is going to talk about, we’re in flux, right? There’s a lot of different things going on. There’s a lot of different thoughts about how rates are affecting things — how equity is growing at whatever rate it is and is it growing fast enough.
“If you look at homeownership over the long term, looking at the last 50 to 100 years, it’s always been extremely stable, not only a financial thing. I think from a societal standpoint, it’s been a really stable thing for us as people, you know. We should be doing anything we can to help with that.”
As NIL buyers stake their claim an impact player in post-pandemic housing market dynamics, the benefits for real estate professionals and student-athletes are real, and stand to grow in scale moving forward.
