Delaware Realty Transfer Tax: Who Pays the 4 Percent?

Part of our Delaware Retirement and Second Home Guides

By Christine Davis, Associate Broker, Active Adults Realty, Lewes. Recorded October 25, 2026. Rates checked against state and county sources October 26 to 28, 2026.

Prefer to read? The full guide is written out below.

Please read first: Active Adults Realty is a real estate brokerage. We are not tax advisors, attorneys or financial advisors, and nothing on this page is legal, tax or financial advice. The rates below are the general rule as the state and the three county Recorder of Deeds offices publish them, as of October 28, 2026. Your settlement attorney and your own tax advisor tell you how any of it applies to you.

What is the Delaware realty transfer tax?

When a home changes hands in Delaware, the state charges a realty transfer tax and so does the county or town where the home sits. The state share is 2.5 percent. The local share, county or town, is 1.5 percent. Together that is 4 percent of the sale price: not of the down payment and not of the equity, of the whole price.

If you are buying: this is cash you need at settlement, separate from your loan.

If you are selling: your share comes out of your proceeds at the table, so your net is not simply the price minus what you owe.

Who pays the transfer tax, the buyer or the seller?

In Delaware the realty transfer tax is normally split down the middle, half from the buyer and half from the seller, which is 2 percent each. Normally is the important word. The even split is the custom and what the standard paperwork assumes, but who pays the transfer tax is a term of the contract, like the settlement date or what stays with the house. It can be negotiated.

That makes it an offer item, not a settlement sheet item. It belongs in the conversation the day the offer is written, while it is still a number someone can trade.

If you are buying: your half is a real negotiating point.

If you are selling: if you agree to pay more than half, that comes off your net, so price it in on purpose rather than conceding it late.

Does the transfer tax change by county?

The total usually does not. Where the money goes does, and that tells you which office to confirm it with.

• New Castle County: the state takes 2.5 percent and the county takes 1.5 percent in unincorporated areas. Inside a town that levies its own, such as Wilmington, Newark or Middletown, the town takes the local share instead of the county.
• Kent County: the same shape. The county takes 1.5 percent in unincorporated areas, and Dover, Camden, Milford, Harrington and most other towns take 1.5 percent of their own. Three towns differ: Hartly, Kenton and Woodside set their local share at 1 percent, and there the state share is 3 percent. The total still comes to 4 percent.
• Sussex County: the county takes 1.5 percent in unincorporated areas, and incorporated towns, including Lewes, Rehoboth Beach, Milton, Millsboro, Georgetown and Seaford, take their own 1.5 percent.

The honest statewide answer: plan on 4 percent, then confirm the split for the actual address. The line between a town and the unincorporated county does not always follow the mailing address. A Lewes or Milton address does not always mean the home is inside town limits.

If you are buying: take the rate from the county Recorder of Deeds sheet for your address, not from a national website.

If you are selling: if your home is inside a town line, the town is paid, and your figures should match that.

Is there a first-time home buyer reduction?

Yes. Delaware gives a first-time home buyer a reduction of one half of one percent in the rate the buyer pays, applied to no more than the first $400,000 of the price. The most it can be worth is $2,000. To qualify, the buyer must never have held a direct legal interest in residential real estate, anywhere, and must intend to live in the home as a principal residence within 90 days of closing. Never owned anywhere, not never owned in Delaware. That is why most people who sold a home elsewhere to move here do not qualify.

If you are buying: if you have truly never owned a home, tell your agent and settlement attorney early. The reduction is claimed on a form at settlement.

If you are selling: it does not change your half. A first-time buyer does not cost you more.

What does 4 percent look like in dollars?

Plain arithmetic, not a forecast, assuming the usual even split:

• On a $400,000 sale, 4 percent is $16,000, or $8,000 on each side.
• On a $600,000 sale, 4 percent is $24,000, or $12,000 on each side.
• On a $750,000 sale, 4 percent is $30,000, or $15,000 on each side.

If you are buying: add your half to the cash you need at settlement before you fall for a house at the top of your range.

If you are selling: run your half at the listing appointment, not after you accept an offer.

What should you do before you sign anything?

1. Get the exact state and local rate for the actual address from the county Recorder of Deeds.
2. Find out whether the address is inside a town or in the unincorporated county, because that decides who collects the local share.
3. Have the transfer tax split written into the contract in plain words.
4. Ask for the transfer tax to appear as its own line on your figures.
5. If you have never owned a home anywhere, raise the first-time buyer reduction before the contract is signed.
6. Read the draft settlement statement line by line, days before settlement, and ask about every line you do not recognize.

What if you are selling here and buying smaller here?

It is a common move in Delaware, and it means two settlements and two transfer taxes: your half as a seller, then your half again as a buyer on the next home. Ask for your honest net in writing at the listing appointment. And if you are buying from someone who is also selling, their timing is probably tied to their net, which is useful to understand in a negotiation.

Has the Delaware transfer tax rate changed before?

Yes. The state share rose by a full point, from 1.5 to 2.5 percent, for contracts entered into after July 31, 2017, which is how the total reached 4 percent. Before that it was 3 percent. The General Assembly has moved this number before and proposals to change it come up again, so confirm the rate for your address the week you go to settlement.

For what else a second home costs to own, see what a second home in Delaware costs to own, and for the full pre-purchase list, six things to check before buying a home in Delaware.

Can we get you the number for a specific address?

Tell us the town or community you are looking at, or the address of the home you own, and we will pull the rate from that county's own sheet, get the split written into your contract instead of assumed, and read the draft settlement statement with you line by line, alongside your settlement attorney. New Castle, Kent or Sussex.

Active Adults Realty
1504 Savannah Road, Lewes, DE 19958
302-549-5164
Office: 302-424-1890
Contact us

Sources: Delaware Division of Revenue, Realty Transfer Tax and First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit (state rate 2.5 percent where a local tax applies, increased from 1.5 percent effective August 2017; shared equally by custom; 0.5 percent first-time buyer reduction, $2,000 maximum, first $400,000, 90 day principal residence), read October 28, 2026. New Castle County Recorder of Deeds, Transfer Tax Information Sheet (state 2.50 percent, county 1.50 percent). Kent County Recorder of Deeds, Realty Transfer Tax Rates, KCROD-10.0, May 23, 2025 (Hartly, Kenton and Woodside 1 percent local with 3 percent state). Sussex County Recorder of Deeds, Town Transfer Tax for Sussex County, revised September 1, 2020. Nothing on this page is legal, tax or financial advice. Equal Housing Opportunity.