From stone farmhouses to Levitt ranchers
Bucks County runs from the Philadelphia line to the Lehigh Valley, and the housing follows the geography. Lower Bucks has the 17,311 Levitt-built ranchers and capes from 1952 to 1958 in Levittown, post-war twins and singles in Bensalem and Bristol, and 1970s to 2000s subdivisions in Lower Makefield and Middletown. Central Bucks has the Victorian and Federal boroughs (Doylestown, Newtown, Yardley, New Hope), 1980s to 2000s colonials, and big-builder new construction around Warrington and Doylestown Township. Upper Bucks has stone farmhouses, acreage, and towns like Quakertown and Perkasie where the price per square foot drops with the elevation.
For the loan, the difference is in the details. A Levittown slab house with three additions appraises differently from an untouched one. A 1790 farmhouse with a spring in the basement needs a lender who has seen a spring in the basement. New construction in a big subdivision is the easiest underwriting in the county. Our purchase loan page walks through the loan types.
What it costs
Bucks County’s median sale price was $538,000 in July 2026, up 7.5% from a year earlier, per Redfin’s county data. In May the county closed 567 sales at a median 21 days on market, which is a fast county.
The transfer tax is 2%: 1% to the state and 1% split between the municipality and school district, with no municipality in Bucks charging more than the standard rate. On $538,000 that’s $10,760, and the customary split leaves the buyer paying $5,380. The same house inside Philadelphia would carry $24,630 in transfer tax. It’s the single biggest reason a Northeast Philly family ends up in Bensalem. The transfer tax calculator compares any two prices.
The 2026 FHA limit for Bucks is $630,200 for a single unit and the conforming limit is $832,750, so the median house fits either. Above $832,750, the Newtown and New Hope end of the market, you’re into jumbo loans.
1972 assessments and the school district
Bucks last reassessed in 1972. Assessed values sit around 5.6% of market value, which is why a $538,000 house carries an assessment near $30,000 and why the millage rates look enormous. Pennsbury is at 204 mills, Neshaminy 198.0124, Council Rock 132.8073, and Central Bucks 125.96 for 2026-27. Multiply the assessment by the mills and that same $30,000 assessment pays roughly $3,800 in school tax in Central Bucks and roughly $6,100 in Pennsbury, before municipal and county tax. The school district decides your escrow, and the county line on a map won’t tell you which one you’re in.
The 2026-27 increases: Central Bucks 5.7% (above the 3.5% Act 1 index through a special-education exception, about $344 more on a typical $40,000 assessment, and the sixth straight increase), Council Rock 3.5%, Pennsbury 3.5%. Ask the lender to pull the actual tax bill for the address before you commit, and read the first-time buyer guide for Bucks for the district-by-district spread. The Delaware floods too: Yardley and Upper Makefield sit in its plain, and a mapped flood zone means the lender requires flood insurance.
Programs that apply in Bucks
The Bucks County First Time Homebuyers Program lends up to $10,000 at 0% for down payment and closing costs, deferred until you sell, refinance for more debt, or move out. You need six months of Bucks residency or a year of Bucks employment, income at or below 100% of the county median family income, a 3% contribution of your own, and counseling through Bucks County Housing Group.
PHFA’s Keystone Home Loan caps purchase price at $588,800 in Bucks, with income limits of $122,700 for one or two people and $141,100 for three or more. The county median fits under it. K-FIT adds 5% of the price as a second loan forgiven over ten years, and Keystone Flex drops the first-time rule with a $212,000 income cap and a $730,600 price cap. USDA zero-down loans work in Upper Bucks: Quakertown, Perkasie, Sellersville, Hilltown, and New Hope are on the eligible side of the line, and Lower Bucks is not. The USDA page explains the income limit and how to check an address.
Two houses at the same price, one in Central Bucks and one in Pennsbury, can differ by more than $2,000 a year in school tax. The lender’s escrow will reflect it, and so will what you qualify for.
The river, the reenactment, the playhouse
Washington’s Crossing turns 250 this December. Washington Crossing Historic Park is staging a First Crossing reenactment on Sunday, December 13, 2026, with the river crossing at 1 p.m., followed by the 73rd Christmas Day crossing. Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope ran South Pacific this summer. And PennDOT’s July 2026 Roosevelt Boulevard proposals include a Broad Street Line subway extension ending in Neshaminy, which would be the first Philadelphia subway stop in Bucks County, arriving sometime after everyone reading this has paid off the mortgage.
Start with one call
Tell us the town. We’ll connect you with a lender who does loans in your school district, knows the county program and the PHFA caps, and can tell you whether your address is on the USDA side of the line. Call us.