Delaware
New Castle County housing prices slip from January
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Newly released data from Realtor.com for February shows that potential buyers and sellers in New Castle County saw lower home sale prices than the previous month’s median of $335,000.
The median home sold for $325,000, an analysis of data from Realtor.com shows. That means February, the most recent month for which figures are available, was down 3% from January.
Compared with February 2025, the median home sales price was up 2.2% compared with $318,000.
Realtor.com sources sales data from real estate deeds, resulting in a few months’ delay in the data. The statistics don’t include homes currently listed for sale and aren’t directly comparable to listings data.
Information on your local housing market, along with other useful community data, is available at data.delawareonline.com.
Here is a breakdown on median sale prices:
- Looking only at single-family homes, the $395,000 median selling price in New Castle County was down 2.9% in February from $407,000 the month prior. Since February 2025, the sales price of single-family homes was up 11.3% from a median of $355,000. Five single-family homes sold for $1 million or more during the month, compared with four recorded transactions of at least $1 million in February 2025.
- Condominiums and townhomes increased by 6.1% in sales price during February to a median of $255,000 from $240,360 in January. Compared with February 2025, the sales price of condominiums and townhomes was up 11.9% from $227,940. No condominiums or townhomes sold for $1 million or more during February.
About recorded home sales in New Castle County in Delaware
In February, the number of recorded sales in New Castle County dropped by 19.9% since February 2025 – from 347 to 278. All residential home sales totaled $101.6 million.
Across Delaware, homes sold at a median of $380,000 during February, a slight decrease from $381,000 in January. There were 631 recorded sales across the state during February, down 33.4% from 947 recorded sales in February 2025.
Here’s a breakdown for the full state:
- The total value of recorded residential home sales in Delaware decreased by 13.8% from $351.3 million in January to $302.8 million this February.
- Out of all residential home sales in Delaware, 6.18% of homes sold for at least $1 million in February, up from 4.01% in February 2025.
- Sales prices of single-family homes across Delaware decreased by 2.4% from a median of $410,000 in January to $400,000 in February. Since February 2025, the sales price of single-family homes across the state was up 4.2% from $383,757.
- Across the state, the sales price of condominiums and townhomes rose 3.1% from a median of $303,000 in January to $312,500 during February. The median sales price of condominiums and townhomes is down 6.7% from the median of $335,000 in February 2025.
The median home sales price used in this report represents the midway point of all the houses or units listed over the given period of time. The median offers a more accurate view of what’s happening in a market than the average sales price, which would mean taking the sum of all sales prices then dividing by the number of homes sold. The average can be skewed by one particularly low or high sale.
USA TODAY Co. is publishing localized versions of this story on its news sites across the country, generated with data from Realtor.com. Please leave any feedback or corrections for this story here.
Meet the calves at Knutsen Farms in Harrington
The family dairy farm recently won a conservation award.
June means blueberry season is here, and Delaware has several farms offering u-pick fruit.
Whether you’re looking for farm-fresh produce to munch on or local ingredients for your summer baking, here’s where you can pick your own blueberries in Delaware this year.
Fifer Orchards, Camden
Recognized as a Delaware century family farm after opening in 1919, Fifer Orchards in Camden typically offers blueberry picking Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (exit by 5 p.m.) for the U-Pick experience.
For even more fun, U-Play admission features yard games, photo opportunities, food and picnic tables and restrooms for public use. The farm also has Saturdays Extras events with even more to do.
You also can stop by the Farm Store to purchase local goodies and a selection of the orchard’s fresh fruits and vegetables.
If you find yourself getting hungry after picking blueberries, the Farm Kitchen building sells a variety of lunch and dessert items.
The farm uses its Facebook page to keep guests updated on daily picking conditions and orchard offerings.
1919 Allabands Mill Road, Camden, (302) 697-2141; fiferorchards.com/
Bennett Orchards, Frankford
Bennett Orchards is another location offering u-pick blueberries. This Frankford farm has several varieties of blueberries and sells produce at various farmers markets throughout the beach towns if you can’t fit in a day of picking.
The farm provides wagons free of charge to help with the picking experience, and Bennett Orchards’ picking containers can be used on return visits for a discount.
Keep tabs on their website for updates on u-pick offerings this summer.
31442 Peach Tree Lane, Frankford,(302) 732-3358; bennettorchards.com/.
Kingsley Orchards, Frankford
Kingsley Orchards in Frankford is well-known for several types of u-pick berries.
If you’re new to the orchard or have never picked your own fruit before, find one of their farmers for a quick lesson on all things u-pick!
Keep an eye on their Facebook page for updates on u-pick hours and availability.
24349 Blueberry Lane, Frankford,(302) 238-0105;www.kingsleyorchards.com/index.html.
Parsons Farms Produce, Dagsboro
Parsons Farms Produce in Dagsboro has u-pick blueberries and other fruits available during the spring and summer months.
To make the u-pick outing complete, they also have fresh beef for sale, a country store filled with fresh produce, ice cream, events and farm animals available for feeding and petting.
The farm’s Facebook page will provide u-pick updates as the crops become available.
30391 Armory Road, Dagsboro, (302) 732-3336; parsonsfarmsproduce.com/.
Got a tip or a story idea? Contact Krys’tal Griffin at kgriffin@delawareonline.com.
300 years later, Shad welcomed back to Brandywine
Dam removal begins in the Brandywine as the Shad and other fish are welcomed back to historic breeding grounds. The project is the first of many on the waterway and one of a series in the Delaware River watershed.
William Bretzger, The News Journal
The Delaware history column features excerpts from The News Journal archives including The Morning News and The Evening Journal. See the archives at delawareonline.com.
20 years ago, The News Journal, June 7, 2006
100-year-old Stone Balloon demolished for condominiums
There was no ceremony or parting words. Just the sound of the orange high-reach excavator machine as it began clawing into the wall of the Stone Balloon tavern on East Main Street in Newark.
A large crowd gathered Tuesday to watch the 100-year-old building come down. As the familiar walls crumbled, they snapped photos on their digital cameras and cell phones.
Owner Jim Baeurle will replace the tavern with a 54-unit project called the Washington House Condominium, as well as retail and office space. Demolition could take several days. Construction is set to start in July.
“To me, the emotional part was on Dec. 17, saying goodbye to the staff and customers,” Baeurie said before the demolition. “But now we turn the page and bring to Main Street what I tried to do for two years. The excitement outweighs the sadness.”
University of Delaware students, residents and business owners had mixed emotions.
Travis Duke, 22, a UD senior from Wilmington, went to the Balloon every Thursday night for two years. His dad went there in the 1970s to watch George Thorogood perform.
“I’m upset,” Duke said. “You can’t really replace the Stone Balloon with condos. It was a one-of-a-kind type of place.”…
The Stone Balloon was opened by Bill Stevenson in 1972.
“I don’t think people will ever realize how much fun we had at this building,” Stevenson said.
50 years ago, The Morning News, June 9, 1976
Governor vetoes bill to merge 3 vo-tech schools
Fearing more problems with budget deficits and desegregation, Gov. Sherman W. Tribbitt yesterday announced his veto of a bill to put three New Castle County vocational schools under the control of a single school board. ….
The bill would have given the New Castle County Vocational Technical Board of Education control over Wilmington’s Howard Career Center which opened last year and Newark’s Hodgson Vocational-Technical School, due to open this fall. …
Before making the decision, Tribbitt talked with Albert H. Jones Jr., president of the State Board of Education. He also met with vo-tech officials and school superintendents from Wilmington and Newark which would have lost control of their vocational schools through the bill….
While vetoing the merger bill, Tribbitt let stand the two companion measures. Those bills increase the vo-tech property tax from 3 cents per $100 of assessed valuation to 4 cents in Sussex County, 4 cents this year and 5 cents next year in Kent County, and 8 cents in New Castle County. The revenues raised in New Castle County will be split, based on enrollment, among the Wilmington, Newark and vo-tech districts.
Tribbitt said the cost of consolidating the three vocational schools under one board would be greater than the increased taxes would raise. The problem, he said, is “leveling up,” which state law requires when districts are consolidated. By putting three schools under one district’s control, the district would have to pay all staff according to a pay scale equal to the highest now existing at any of them. That, Tribbitt said, would have created at least a $300,000 deficit next year.
Desegregation was mentioned indirectly in the veto message, but Jones elaborated on it. In consolidating, Jones said, the district’s three schools would have to meet U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare standards. Those standards require that the district couldn’t have one school with mostly white students while another was mostly black or have a similar racial imbalance between teachers at different schools.
Meeting those guidelines, Tribbitt said, could have meant “significant shifts” in students, teachers, administrators and programs. “It could have meant busing,” a Tribbitt aide noted.
100 years ago, The Evening Journal, June 12, 1926
Wilmington to join in nation’s 150th birthday celebration
Wilmington Mayor Forrest, at 11:11 a.m. on June 28, simultaneously with the ringing of the Liberty Bell by Mayor Kendrick in Philadelphia, will ring a bell in this city, as an echo of the tolling of the symbol of liberty.
The ringing of the bell will be a signal for the commencement of American Independence Week.
President Coolidge in Washington is expected to perform a similar service, and each of the state governors are expected at that time to toll a bell in the state capitols.
The week has been set aside by a special act of Congress for the celebration of the 150th birthday of the Declaration of Independence and commemorating the Centennial of the death of its author, Thomas Jefferson.
Claude G. Bowers, executive secretary of the national commission, yesterday wired Mayor Forrest about the celebration and received an immediate return telegram from the mayor assuring the commission of his fullest cooperation. …
The tentative program follows: “Patriot’s Pledge of Faith Day” on Monday, “Universal Education Day” Tuesday, “Founders Day” Wednesday, “Great American Day” Thursday, “Signers Day” Friday, “Monticello Day” Saturday, “Jefferson Centennial Day” Sunday and “Sesqui-Centennial Independence Day” on Monday.
Reach reporter Ben Mace at rmace@gannett.com.
Residents in Wilmington are testing a traffic safety measure they hope will make a dangerous intersection safer and eventually lead to permanent changes.
With permission from the city, neighbors spent a whole day cleaning, taping off and painting part of the area around Lancaster Avenue and Connell Street as part of a temporary project known as daylighting.
Daylighting improves visibility at intersections by preventing vehicles from parking closest to corners, making it easier for drivers, pedestrians and others using the roadway to see one another.
Organizers say the temporary project is only supposed to last for a few days. Afterward, they plan to survey neighbors to determine whether residents believe it improved safety.
Neighbors say this intersection has long been a concern because vehicles often travel fast down Lancaster Avenue, making it difficult for drivers on Connell Street to safely see oncoming traffic when turning onto the avenue.
“This is local. It’s a local solution from a local set of neighbors who are taking matters into their own hands,” Jamila Davey of Green for the Greater Good said.
For Tracy Jenkins, who lives nearby, the project is personal.
“There used to be a building that sat on this block here, it got hit and knocked off the foundation,” Jenkins said. “My mom every time she gets in the car she cringes because of being afraid of us being hit. It’s just horrible.”
If neighbors believe the temporary project made the intersection safer, organizers plan to push the city and DelDOT to make the daylighting measures permanent.
For now, residents say the effort is about trying to solve a problem they see every day in their neighborhood.
“You gotta try so we’ve gotta try this first,” Jenkins said.
This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC Philadelphia. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC Philadelphia journalist edited the article for publication.
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