Sell Your Commercial Property In Kent County, DE

Who rents in Kent County

Kent County, Delaware is home to 187,604 residents, up 6.2% from the 2015-2019 American Community Survey (ACS) to the 2020-2024 ACS. Of the county's 71,424 occupied housing units, 19,616 are renter-occupied, a 27.5% renter share. Dover drives much of that demand with 53.1% of its households renting, well above the countywide rate.

Median household income in Kent County reached $74,477, up 22.3% over the same five-year comparison, per the Census Bureau's ACS. That income growth outpaced the county's population growth, a combination that has kept rental demand firm across Dover, Smyrna and Milford.

Kent County's housing stock totals 76,325 units against 71,424 occupied homes, and the median year built is 1993, a relatively newer stock than many East Coast counties, which keeps renovation needs lower for buyers evaluating multifamily assets here.

Rents, growth and affordability in Kent County

Median gross rent in Kent County climbed to $1,354, up 24.9% from the 2015-2019 ACS, per the Census Bureau. Smyrna posted the steepest increase among covered cities at 38.2%, followed by Dover at 29.5% and Milford at 26.0%.

Rent burden is a real constraint for Kent County renters: 52.5% pay 30% or more of income toward gross rent, per ACS data. Units in buildings of five or more apartments rose 24.7% to 8,739, an 11.4% share of the county's housing stock, while employment grew 6.6% over the same period, supporting continued renter demand.

HUD's FY2027 Fair Market Rents for the Dover, DE metro area set the two-bedroom rate at $1,629 and the one-bedroom rate at $1,294, effective October 1, 2026, a benchmark buyers use when underwriting Kent County apartment income.

City-by-city comparison in Kent County

Dover, Smyrna and Milford each carry a distinct renter profile within Kent County, shown below using the same 2020-2024 ACS release.

Dover carries the largest apartment share of the three, while Milford's rental vacancy of 0.5% signals a notably tight market for anyone weighing when to sell an apartment building in Kent County.

Property taxes and assessment in Kent County

Kent County taxes real property at 5.72 cents per $100 of assessed value, among the lowest county rates in Delaware, per Spotlight Delaware's reporting on the statewide reassessment. That county rate sits on top of school district and any municipal levies, so a Dover or Smyrna apartment building's total bill depends on its exact location.

Delaware's counties, including Kent, completed a court-ordered reassessment process tying values closer to current market levels, with a new statewide cycle requiring reassessment every five years going forward. Owners should confirm a parcel's current assessed value directly with the Kent County assessment office before pricing a sale, since post-reassessment figures can differ meaningfully from a county's pre-2024 tax roll.

Delaware's transfer tax, set under 30 Del. C. Section 5402, runs 3% of the sale price statewide, split equally between buyer and seller unless a local tax reduces the state's share to 2.5%. Factoring that cost early helps an owner net proceeds accurately when pricing a Kent County apartment sale.

What this means if you sell in Kent County

Owners who want to sell commercial property in Kent County, DE are selling into a market with rising rents, a growing apartment stock and vacancy running near 3.7%. Those fundamentals, paired with Dover's large renter base and Smyrna's rent growth, tend to support buyer interest in stabilized or value-add apartment assets across the county.

Selling an apartment building in Kent County means being ready to document rent rolls, the county's 5.72-cent tax rate and current occupancy against the HUD benchmarks above, since a multifamily buyer in Kent County will underwrite the deal against exactly those figures, so having them ready in advance tends to shorten the time to close.