Rowhomes at the line, estates at the far end
Delaware County’s housing changes by the mile. Along the city line in Upper Darby, Lansdowne, Clifton Heights and Drexel Hill it’s early-20th-century brick rowhomes and twins. Havertown and Springfield have stone twins and singles on tidy lots. Radnor, Newtown Square, Media and Rose Valley have the larger singles and the estates. Aston, Concord and Garnet Valley have the newer townhomes and 55-plus communities that went up in the last twenty years.
For the loan, the near-city stock is FHA and conventional territory. The 2026 FHA limit of $630,200 clears almost everything in the county, and a 1920s twin will get the same appraiser attention a Philly rowhome gets: paint, railings, roof, wiring. The Radnor end of the county is where prices cross the $832,750 conforming limit and jumbo enters the conversation.
What it costs
Zillow’s home value index for the county was $369,806 as of July 31, 2026, up 2.7% on the year. Redfin’s April 2026 sale median was $349,000. Call it a $350,000 to $370,000 county, with Radnor at the top and the city-line boroughs at the bottom.
Transfer tax is 2% in most of the county. On a $370,000 house that’s $7,400, with $3,700 customarily on the buyer. Four municipalities charge more, per the county Recorder of Deeds: Radnor Township and Upper Darby Township at 2.5%, the City of Chester at 2.5%, and Upper Providence Township at 3%. That same $370,000 house costs $9,250 in transfer tax in Upper Darby and $11,100 in Upper Providence, and your half goes from $3,700 to $4,625 or $5,550.
Property tax comes from three bills, and the school bill is the big one. Rose Tree Media is at 16.4915 mills for 2026-27 with a 3.5% increase proposed. The West Chester Area district’s Delaware County slice is at 12.22 mills, about $433 more for the average homeowner this year. Haverford Township’s municipal rate went to 4.695 mills. Because assessments sit near market value, the arithmetic is simple: a house assessed at $400,000 in Rose Tree Media pays about $6,597 to the school district before the township and county lines. Ask for the actual bill on the listing and hand it to the lender for escrow.
Programs that apply here
Delaware County’s Homeownership First program combines required counseling with a 0% loan of up to $10,000, depending on the program year; confirm the current amount before you budget around it. It’s repaid when you sell or transfer, and forgiven after five years in a designated Revitalization Area. Counseling runs through partner agencies including Media Fellowship House and the Chester Community Improvement Project. Funding is limited, and residents of Chester City, Haverford Township and Upper Darby Township are pointed to their own local programs instead. The county’s housing initiatives page has the current contacts.
PHFA’s Keystone Home Loan caps the price at $588,800 in Delaware County for reservations from July 1, 2026, with income limits of $122,700 for one or two people and $141,100 for three or more. At a $370,000 county median, most of Delco fits under that cap with room to spare, which makes the K-FIT 5% forgivable second and the $6,000 Keystone Advantage loan real money here. The assistance guide shows how the county program and PHFA stack.
USDA skips Delco entirely.
The 2021 reassessment
Delaware County reassessed every parcel effective January 1, 2021, the first countywide revaluation since 2000. Assessments now sit near market value, which makes Delco millage rates look low next to Bucks and Chester counties, where assessments are a fraction of market. They aren’t low. They’re just honest.
The catch runs the other way too. Prices have climbed since 2021, so a house that sells for $550,000 today may still carry a $350,000 assessment. The appraiser and the tax assessor will disagree about what your house is worth, and both of them are right for their own purposes. Budget from the tax bill as it exists.
Two of the four higher-transfer-tax towns, Upper Darby and the City of Chester, also run their own first-time buyer programs instead of the county’s. If you’re buying there, the extra half percent at closing and the local assistance are two halves of the same conversation.
Getting around, and the county that hosted a major
The Media/Sharon Hill trolleys, now branded the D lines (Routes 101 and 102), run from 69th Street out through Springfield and Clifton Heights to Media and Sharon Hill. SEPTA’s Trolley Modernization program finishes design in 2026 and builds from 2027 to 2030, with new low-floor cars and accessible stops, so expect construction along the lines and better service after.
This May, Aronimink in Newtown Square hosted the PGA Championship, and Aaron Rai won by three over Jon Rahm, the first English winner since 1919. Delco also gave the world Wawa, which started as a county dairy farm before it became a 1,200-store empire headquartered in Chester Heights.
Start with one call
Tell us the town. We’ll tell you the transfer tax rate and whether the county program applies, then connect you with a lender who does Delco twins and Radnor singles alike. Call us.
