Federal houses, colonials, and the river
Newtown Borough is a National Register historic district with 293 contributing buildings from the late 1600s to the early 1900s: Federal, Greek Revival, Queen Anne, Gothic Revival, all on a few walkable blocks. Newtown Township wraps it with 1980s to 2000s colonials and the townhomes and condos of Newtown Grant. Yardley Borough is Victorian houses along the canal and the Delaware, with the Rivermawr section sitting between the river and the canal. Lower Makefield fills in with 1970s to 2000s singles on cul-de-sacs.
For the loan, the borough houses get an appraiser who knows historic comps and an inspector who knows a 1790 foundation. Newtown Borough has its own Historic and Architectural Review Board, so exterior changes in the district get reviewed. Township colonials and Newtown Grant townhomes are routine underwriting, with the condo units needing a building review. The conventional loan page covers the loan most buyers here use.
What it costs
Yardley’s median sale price was $695,000 in June 2026 per Movoto, on 106 sales at 13 days on market, which is fast. Newtown is harder to pin down: one listing site shows a June 2026 median above $1.3 million that looks skewed by new construction and large-lot sales, while trailing-year sales in the 18940 ZIP cluster around $725,000. Plan on the $700,000s for a typical single and get a lender to pull comps for the specific street.
At $695,000, the Bucks transfer tax of 2% is $13,900, with the buyer’s customary half at $6,950. That price clears the 2026 FHA limit of $630,200 and sits under the $832,750 conforming limit; Newtown new construction and Lower Makefield’s larger houses cross into jumbo loan territory. Run any price through the transfer tax calculator.
The catch: the Delaware
Yardley Borough sits in a flood plain, and the borough says so itself. A $2 million FEMA grant is elevating ten more houses, and backflow preventers went into Rivermawr after the last round of high water. For a buyer, any property near the river or the canal needs the FEMA flood map pulled before the offer. If it’s in a Special Flood Hazard Area, the lender requires flood insurance, the premium goes into your monthly payment, and on an older house that hasn’t been raised above the flood level the quote can be large. Get the elevation certificate if one exists, get the insurance quote during the inspection period, and decide with the real number. Up in Newtown the river is a view from the car.
Two school districts, two tax bills
Newtown is Council Rock, which passed a $333 million budget for 2026-27 with a 3.5% increase on a 5-3 vote on June 18, 2026, at 132.8073 mills. Yardley and Lower Makefield are Pennsbury, which passed $278.4 million with a 3.5% increase and rising debt service for the new high school, at 204 mills. Bucks assessments are 1972 base year, roughly 5.6% of market, so multiply the assessment on the listing sheet by the mills for the school bill and add municipal and county. On the same assessment, Pennsbury’s bill runs about 50% higher than Council Rock’s, and the lender’s escrow shows it. The Bucks first-time buyer guide lays out the spread across the county.
Programs that reach this price
The Bucks County First Time Homebuyers Program lends up to $10,000 at 0%, deferred until sale or refinance, for buyers at or below 100% of the county median family income with six months of residency or a year of Bucks employment, a 3% contribution, and counseling through Bucks County Housing Group. PHFA’s Keystone Home Loan price cap of $588,800 sits below the Yardley median, so the fit here is Keystone Flex (no first-time rule, $212,000 income limit, $730,600 price cap) with K-FIT’s 5% second loan forgiven over ten years. Veterans can go zero down with a VA loan, with no loan limit on full entitlement, which matters at these prices. Lockheed Martin’s Space campus in Newtown is one of the larger local employers, and a W-2 from it is the kind underwriters like.
A flood insurance quote on a Yardley river house is the number that decides the deal. Get it before the inspection contingency expires, never after.
Crossing the river, on purpose
Washington Crossing Historic Park is a few minutes up River Road, and this is its year. The First Crossing reenactment is Sunday, December 13, 2026, with the crossing at 1 p.m., followed by the 73rd Christmas Day crossing, Durham boats rowed to New Jersey if the river cooperates. Yardley station is on SEPTA’s West Trenton Line, with new Regional Rail schedules since July 5, 2026 and no cuts in the fiscal 2027 budget. Newtown has no train, which residents will describe as a feature.
Start with one call
Tell us whether it’s the river side or the Newtown side. We’ll connect you with a lender who does both, with your flood quote, your school district, and your transfer tax in the estimate before you offer. Call us.
