NIL era brings new wealth — and new buyers — to college housing markets

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 t...