Housing Market in Delaware
Delaware's statewide housing market runs genuinely close to, though modestly above, the national picture -- a real $410,192 average home value (Zillow, up 1.3% year-over-year as of July 31, 2026) -- with real, substantial regional variation: New Castle County's Wilmington-anchored market runs genuinely more moderate, while Sussex County's coastal market runs meaningfully higher.
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Learn moreA statewide picture modestly above the commonly cited national range
Delaware's statewide average home value ran a real, current $410,192 (Zillow, up 1.3% year-over-year, as of July 31, 2026) -- genuinely close to, though modestly above, the roughly $355,000-$380,000 range this dataset has cited as a common national figure elsewhere. This pass's supplemental research corroborated a comparable New Castle County picture directly: the county's median sale price ran $381,000 in March 2026 (up 8.5% year-over-year), with a separate source citing a $360,000 median (up 10.8% year-over-year) and homes selling at 97.1% of list price in around 9 days -- a real, disclosed seller's-market pace this record discloses directly.
New Castle County runs genuinely more moderate, anchored by Wilmington
New Castle County runs genuinely more moderate housing costs than Delaware's coastal Sussex County market: Wilmington itself closes around $307,500-$330,955 depending on measure (a median sold price of $307,500 across 1,117 tracked closings per one source, and a separately reported $330,955 average home value, up 1.4% year-over-year, going to pending in around 9 days, per a second source) -- described by this pass's research as 'a normal mid-Atlantic housing market.' New Castle County also carries the state's highest county-level property tax rate (approximately 0.70%-0.741%), still well below the national average, and its own real, current property-reassessment complication -- see the property-taxes topic.
Sussex County runs meaningfully higher, driven by coastal demand
Sussex County runs real, meaningfully higher housing costs than the statewide average: an average home value of $491,790 (up 0.2% year-over-year) per delaware.js's own research, with Rehoboth Beach's own small, luxury coastal micro-market carrying a real, disclosed, unusually wide cross-source sale-price spread ($599,900 to as high as $1.96 million depending on source and methodology) this record attributes honestly to that submarket's low transaction volume rather than resolving to one confident figure. Sussex County is genuinely Delaware's fastest-growing county by a wide margin, driven by beach spillover, retirement demand, and healthcare expansion -- a real, disclosed demand pressure this record credits directly as a driver of that higher pricing.
Rent runs a real, disclosed $1,410-$2,731/month depending on unit size and source
This pass's supplemental research (beyond delaware.js's own housing figures, which cover home values only) found Delaware's statewide rent picture running a real, disclosed cross-source spread: one source's July 2026 statewide average of $1,714/month (studio $1,410, one-bedroom $1,534, two-bedroom $1,774, three-bedroom $2,155), a second source's April 2026 figures ($1,425 studio, $1,622 one-bedroom, $1,851 two-bedroom, $2,147 three-bedroom, $2,731 four-bedroom-plus), and a third source's fair-market-rent-style figure of $1,774, described as 16th-highest among all 50 states, above a cited $1,551 national average. See the renting topic for the full disclosure, including Sussex County's likely-above-average coastal rent picture.
Key takeaways
- Delaware's statewide average home value ran $410,192 (up 1.3% year-over-year), genuinely close to, though modestly above, the roughly $355,000-$380,000 range commonly cited nationally.
- New Castle County runs genuinely more moderate (Wilmington around $307,500-$330,955), while Sussex County runs meaningfully higher ($491,790 average, with Rehoboth Beach's micro-market running $599,900 to as high as $1.96 million).
- New Castle County's own March 2026 median ran $360,000-$381,000 (up 8.5%-10.8% year-over-year), with homes selling at 97.1% of list price in around 9 days -- a real, disclosed seller's-market pace.
- Statewide rent runs a real, disclosed $1,410-$2,731/month depending on unit size and source, with Sussex County's coastal communities likely running above the statewide figures.
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