Delaware rental market data

Delaware's Apartment List recent-lease rent increased from $1,451 to $1,527, a 5.2% year-over-year gain. The national series moved from $1,403 to $1,388, a 1.1% decline. The supplied difference between the two growth rates is 6.3 percentage points, making recent-lease rent momentum the packet's strongest statewide positive signal.

The other Apartment List liquidity measures do not provide Delaware confirmation. National vacancy was 7.2%, versus 7.1% a year earlier, and national time on market increased from 28 to 30 days. Because those are national figures from separate series, they cannot establish Delaware vacancy, lease-up speed or occupancy. The rent result supports testing achievable rents on current leasing evidence, but it does not by itself support aggressive vacancy assumptions.

ACS housing conditions differ sharply across the three counties. Sussex County has a 29.9% overall housing-vacancy rate and an 18.4% renter share. Kent County is at 6.4% vacancy and 27.5% renters, while New Castle County is at 5.0% vacancy and 31.0% renters. Sussex's high figure is a counter-signal to a simple statewide scarcity thesis, but the broad ACS measure does not identify how many vacant units are available to long-term renters.

Tenant affordability also limits what rent growth can imply. The share of renters with housing costs of at least 30% of income is 53.5% in Sussex County, 52.5% in Kent County and 47.8% in New Castle County. Each county's housing stock is roughly three-quarters single-family: 75.3% in Sussex, 74.2% in Kent and 74.4% in New Castle. These figures favor county- and property-type-specific rent tests; they do not show that every landlord can capture the statewide recent-lease increase.

The measured counties recorded 25,606 arrivals and 21,552 departures, producing net migration of 4,054, or 4.0 people per 1,000 residents. All three counties are represented. That is a positive household-movement signal, although the data do not identify whether the net arrivals rent, buy or occupy the property types under review.

Employment does not confirm the signal uniformly. Philadelphia, PA recorded 0.3% year-over-year job growth, while Dover, DE recorded a 0.9% decline; the median across the two measured metros was negative 0.3%. This split makes local employer exposure and tenant sources especially important in Dover. It also prevents the migration total from being treated as proof of broad, current rental-demand strength.

Sussex County has the strongest measured FHFA appreciation: 5.3% over one year and 56.9% over five years. Its measured value is $490,904, rent is $2,208 and gross yield is 5.4%. New Castle County pairs a $374,569 value with $1,940 rent and a higher 6.2% gross yield; its annual appreciation is 2.8%. Kent County records a $374,940 value, $1,725 rent, 5.5% gross yield and 2.5% annual appreciation.

The exit indicators reinforce the trade-off. Sussex County has a 66-day median for-sale market time, an 18.8% price-reduction share and a 44.4% pending ratio. Kent County is at 50 days, 18.6% and 60.2%, respectively. New Castle County is faster at 36 days, with a 15.4% reduction share and an 81.5% pending ratio. Sussex's appreciation history therefore does not translate into the strongest current gross income return or resale liquidity. Gross yield remains a screening ratio, not a net return after operating, financing and capital costs.

Inland flood is the mutually exclusive leading-hazard label for all three measured counties. The reported hazard loss ratios are 0.135% in New Castle County, 0.126% in Sussex County and 0.105% in Kent County. These county labels are screening context only: they do not indicate whether a specific parcel is exposed, and they are not overlapping counts of multiple hazards.

Measured property-tax rates range from 0.32% in Sussex County to 0.43% in Kent County and 0.71% in New Castle County. Median taxes are $1,222, $1,363 and $2,499, respectively. New Castle's stronger gross yield and resale indicators therefore come with the highest measured tax rate and median tax. The packet contains no parcel assessment, insurance premium or mitigation-cost data, so these county figures cannot complete a property-level expense model.