Delaware Housing Market: Home Prices, Rent and Affordability
The typical Delaware home is worth $406,074, up 1.3% over the past year and up 21.4% over five years, 10.1% above the national $368,697 (Zillow, latest release). That ranks #20 of 50 on price. A 20%-down mortgage runs $2,089 a month and takes about $98,191 of income; the median Delaware household earns $79,810, $18,381 short.
In Salisbury, the state's largest metro, typical rent is $1,977 a month against a $2,187 principal-and-interest payment on the typical home, so renting is $210 a month cheaper before taxes, insurance and maintenance. The market is cool: 28.5% of listings cut their price (national 26.4%), homes go pending in 47 days (national 53), and for-sale inventory is up 13.4% from a year ago.
All figures are Zillow Research's published numbers for August; median household income is from the Census Bureau. How the data works → · Home prices in all 50 states →
Delaware Housing by the Numbers
How much does a house cost in Delaware? The typical home is worth $406,074, the median sale price is $396,917 and the median list price $451,750. The six figures below describe the market this month, each with the national comparison.
How Have Delaware Home Prices Changed?
The typical Delaware home value every month since 2000, with the national typical home as a dashed line. Values rose 1.3% over the past year, are up 21.4% over five years, up 61.5% over ten, and up 171% since January 2000.
Is It Cheaper to Rent or Buy in Delaware?
Two direct answers from the Zillow data. Rent versus buy sets typical asking rent in Salisbury, the state's largest metro, against the mortgage payment on the typical home there, since Zillow publishes rents by metro rather than by state. The affordability gap is the income needed to buy the typical Delaware home minus what the median household actually earns.
Rent vs. buy · Salisbury, MD
The payment excludes property tax (0.55% of value in Delaware), insurance and maintenance, all of which push the cost of owning higher; renting builds no equity. If values kept rising at the past five years' pace (21.4%), equity would narrow that gap over a long stay.
Affordability gap · #21 of 50
A $2,089 monthly payment takes 31.4% of the median Delaware household's income before property tax and insurance; lenders generally cap total housing costs near 28–31%. Full budget for your household →
Is Delaware a Buyer's or a Seller's Market?
Market temperature is our label from three Zillow signals compared with the national market: the share of listings with a price cut, days from listing to pending (days on market), and whether homes for sale are up from a year ago. Delaware is cool: it leans toward buyers: two of the three market signals point cooler than the national market.
Median sale price $396,917 against a median list price of $451,750, so the typical home closes 12.1% below asking.
Where the Delaware market is heading
Compared with a year ago, all three signals point looser, in buyers' favor: the share of listings with a price cut is up 0.5 points from a year ago to 28.5%, homes take 7 days longer to go pending than a year ago (47 now), and the number of homes for sale is up 13.4%. The typical home value rose 1.3% over the same period and is at an all-time high. We publish no forecasts: these are Zillow's current-month readings, not a prediction of where Delaware home prices go next.
Home Values and Rents in Delaware Cities
Zillow publishes a city-level home value or rent for 13 of the Delaware cities we track. The most expensive is Hockessin ($610,665) and the cheapest Elsmere ($239,277). Click a city for its full profile.
| City | Population | Home value | 1 yr | 5 yr | Rent | Rent 1 yr | Value ÷ income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wilmington | 71,672 | $329,558 | +1.5% | ||||
| Dover | 39,491 | $343,273 | +1.8% | ||||
| Newark | 30,309 | $365,464 | +1.0% | ||||
| Middletown | 24,071 | $532,809 | +2.0% | ||||
| Bear | 22,604 | $412,883 | +1.3% | ||||
| Hockessin | 13,608 | $610,665 | +4.5% | ||||
| Smyrna | 13,031 | $404,934 | +2.7% | ||||
| Milford | 12,193 | $345,109 | +0.5% | ||||
| Claymont | 9,543 | $325,879 | +1.6% | ||||
| Seaford | 8,255 | $316,717 | +2.0% | ||||
| Georgetown | 7,456 | $373,750 | +0.4% | ||||
| Millsboro | 7,152 | $396,460 | -1.2% | ||||
| Elsmere | 6,189 | $239,277 | +0.4% |
Home value and rent are Zillow's city-level indexes; population and median household income are Census ACS. Cities without a Zillow index are omitted. All Delaware cities ranked →
How Delaware Compares With Nearby States
The Northeast states closest to Delaware on price. Each card links to that state's housing page; the compare link puts the two states side by side on every category.
More on Delaware
Delaware dashboard
→Overall rank and grade, every category score, taxes, utilities, safety, schools and all tracked cities.
What you'd keep in Delaware
→Take-home after housing, taxes, childcare, utilities and groceries for your household and income.
Who is moving to Delaware
→IRS migration data: where new residents come from, where leavers go, and what both groups earn.
Delaware Housing Market FAQ
What is the average house price in Delaware?
$406,074 is the typical Delaware home value according to the latest Zillow Research release of the Zillow Home Value Index, which tracks homes in the middle third of the market. The median sale price was $396,917 and the median list price $451,750. That makes Delaware the #20 most expensive state; the national typical home is worth $368,697.
Are home prices dropping in Delaware?
No. The typical Delaware home value rose 1.3% over the past year and is at an all-time high. Over five years it is up 21.4% and over ten years up 61.5%. Nationally, values rose 1.2% over the year.
How have Delaware home prices changed over the past 1, 5 and 10 years?
+1.3% over one year, +21.4% over five years and +61.5% over ten years for the typical Delaware home value, per the latest Zillow Research release; the national figures are +1.2%, +20.3% and +77.9%. Since January 2000 the typical Delaware home is up 171%. The monthly chart above shows the full series against the national line.
Will the Delaware housing market crash?
We publish no forecasts, so this page cannot answer that; it can show the current readings and the historical worst case. Right now the typical Delaware home value is at an all-time high after it rose 1.3% over the past year; 28.5% of listings have cut their price (national 26.4%), homes go pending in 47 days (national 53), and inventory is up 13.4% from a year ago, per Zillow Research. The largest decline in Zillow's monthly series for Delaware was 23.8% from August 2007 to October 2012, and values took 94 months to regain that peak.
Is it a good time to buy a house in Delaware?
The Delaware market is cool right now, which means it leans toward buyers: two of the three market signals point cooler than the national market. 28.5% of listings cut their price (national 26.4%), homes go pending in 47 days (national 53), and for-sale inventory is up 13.4% from a year ago. Affordability is the constraint: buying the typical home takes $98,191 of income, $18,381 more than the median household earns. Whether the timing is right also depends on mortgage rates and how long you plan to stay.
Is Delaware a buyer's or seller's market?
Delaware leans toward buyers. More listings are cutting prices than the national average (28.5% vs. 26.4%), homes take 47 days to go pending (national 53), and the number of homes for sale is up 13.4% from a year ago at 4K listings. Two of those three signals point toward buyers.
What is the average rent in Delaware?
In Salisbury, Delaware's largest metro, the typical asking rent is $1,977 a month, up 4.2% over the past year and up 27.6% over five years, per the Zillow Observed Rent Index. The national typical rent is $1,948. Among Delaware cities we track, rents range from $1,707 to $2,737 a month.
Is it cheaper to rent or buy in Delaware?
Renting is cheaper month to month in Salisbury, Delaware's largest metro. Typical rent is $1,977 and the principal-and-interest payment on the typical home with 20% down is $2,187, a difference of $210 a month in favor of renting. The payment excludes property tax (0.55% of value in Delaware), insurance and maintenance, and renting builds no equity, so the full answer depends on how long you stay.
How much income do you need to buy a house in Delaware?
About $98,191 a year, using Zillow's assumptions of 20% down at current mortgage rates and a payment of no more than 30% of income. The median Delaware household earns $79,810, so the typical household is $18,381 short. That is the #21 smallest affordability gap of the 50 states. The monthly payment of $2,089 equals 31.4% of the median household's income.
Where are homes cheapest and most expensive in Delaware?
Among the Delaware cities we track with Zillow data, the most expensive typical home is in Hockessin ($610,665) and the cheapest in Elsmere ($239,277). Also at the top: Middletown ($532,809), Bear ($412,883), and Smyrna ($404,934). The city table above lists every tracked Delaware city with its value, one-year change and rent.
How does Delaware compare with nearby states?
In the Northeast, the closest comparisons on price are Vermont ($399,053, up 1.0% in a year), Maine ($415,552, up 1.6% in a year), and Maryland ($428,308, flat in a year). Delaware's typical home is $406,074, up 1.3%. On affordability, Delaware ranks #21 of 50 versus Vermont at #39, Maine at #34, and Maryland at #18.
How current is the Delaware housing data?
Every figure on this page comes from Zillow Research, which publishes state, metro and city data free each month for the prior month; the latest month shown is August. Median household income is from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. We rebuild the page from the newest Zillow files as they are released.
Home values, rents, mortgage payments, income needed, inventory, price cuts, days to pending and sale and list prices are published by Zillow Research and shown as released, with attribution. Median household income and city populations are from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. Home prices and housing markets in all 50 states →