Delaware Property Tax — Assessment Rules

Assessment basis

NOW 100% of fair market value statewide — a brand-new fact. The court-ordered reassessments replaced base years frozen for generations: New Castle 1983 (100%), Kent 1987 (60% ratio), Sussex 1974 (50% ratio). New bases: Kent = FMV as of 7/1/2023 (effective TY2024); Sussex = 7/1/2023 (TY2025); New Castle = 7/1/2024 (TY2025).

Reassessment cycle

BRAND-NEW 100% fair-market-value assessments statewide — the court-ordered reassessments (Tyler Technologies) replaced base years frozen since 1974 (Sussex, at a 50% ratio), 1983 (New Castle), and 1987 (Kent, 60%). New bases: Kent 7/1/2023 (TY2024); Sussex 7/1/2023 and New Castle 7/1/2024 (TY2025). HB 62 (2023) now mandates reassessment at least every FIVE years (~2029-30 next).

Reassessment trigger

Static between five-year cycles; new construction/improvements added at certificate-of-occupancy inspection. The whole system was rebuilt after Chancery ruled the frozen-base regime UNCONSTITUTIONAL (In re Delaware Public Schools Litigation, 2020).

Personal & intangible property

DELAWARE TAXES NO PERSONAL PROPERTY — real property only. No TPP returns, no inventory tax (and no sales tax context).

CRE forecasting note

NEW CASTLE adopted TWO-TIER rates post-reassessment — non-residential 27.90¢ vs residential 18.46¢ per $100 (FY2027; split upheld by Chancery Oct 2025, aff'd Del. Supreme Court Nov 2025; two-tier school rates via HB 242): a structural commercial premium born in 2025. Post-reassessment turbulence is live (redo push, commercial-undervaluation claims, 5,200+ appeals) — values are fresh mass-appraisal numbers: model RATE risk and appeal opportunity, not value-growth risk. Appeals: county Board of Assessment Review, annually (~Mar 14 in NCC).

Residential note

Reassessment shifted burden toward homeowners in NCC (commercial base shrank as a share). Relief pieces: senior school property tax credit, county senior/disability discounts (apply through the county assessment office), and HB 241 installment plans for post-reassessment school-tax jumps (3+ installments, sunsets after 3 years). No assessment caps — the 5-year cycle is the protection.

Delaware — all 3 jurisdictions