Top 10 Most Affordable and Most Expensive College Towns

Ball State

Want to be closer to your favorite team? Perhaps be just a stone’s throw away from the stadium so you can tailgate in your own backyard for big Saturday matchups? Well, before you get too excited, you may want to size up real estate prices in popular college towns prior to packing your bags.

Below is a list of the top 10 most affordable college real estate markets, followed by the 10 most expensive, according to average sales price, based on the third annual Coldwell Banker College Home Price Comparison Index.

Top 10 most affordable college markets for home prices in 2007:

· Ball State University, Muncie, IN, $150,000
· Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX, $151,250
· University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK, $153,750
· Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, $162,000
· Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, $163,250
· University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, $163, 278
· University of Louisiana Monroe, Monroe, LA, $164,499
· University of Houston, Houston, TX,$169,736
· Rice University, Houston, TX,$169,736
· Utah State University, Logan, UT, $172,978

Top 10 most expensive college markets for home prices in 2007:

· Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, $1,677,000
· Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, $1,381,250
· University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, $1,306,333
· University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, $1,306,333
· University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, $1,287,500
· San Jose State University, San Jose, CA, $1,145,000
· University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, $843,750
· Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, $708,000
· Florida International University, Miami, FL, $638,333
· University of Miami, Miami, FL, $638, 333

The Coldwell Banker College Market HPCI examines housing markets that are home to 119 Football Bowl Subdivision (I-A) schools.

Coldwell said college towns are a popular place to live, both for retirees and first-time homebuyers, noting that many of these communities draw many of their alumni back home.