Delaware Sheriff Sale Tracker
Every month I count the properties sold at sheriff sale in New Castle and Kent County, straight from the sheriffs' own published result lists, so homeowners, reporters and housing counselors can see the trend. Totals only: no names, no addresses.
Properties sold at sheriff sale, by month
Each bar is one monthly sale. New Castle County holds its real-estate sheriff sale on the second Tuesday of each month; Kent County holds a mortgage-foreclosure sale most months and a monition (tax) sale about every three months. "Sold" includes properties the foreclosing lender bought back with a credit bid.
| Sale month | New Castle sold | to 3rd-party bidder | bought back by lender | tax writs | New Castle, same month last year | Kent sold |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 2026 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 19 | 6 |
| Aug 2026 | 16 | 9 | 7 | 4 | 17 | 2 |
| Jul 2026 | 17 | 12 | 5 | 3 | 10 | 6 |
| Jun 2026 | 25 | 19 | 6 | 6 | 16 | 8 |
| May 2026 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 21 | 8 |
| Apr 2026 | 9 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 10 | 3 |
| Mar 2026 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 13 | 5 |
| Feb 2026 | 21 | 16 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 4 |
| Jan 2026 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 13 | 7 |
| Dec 2025 | 15 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 9 | 10 |
| Nov 2025 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 15 | 6 |
| Oct 2025 | 9 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 17 | 12 |
| Sep 2025 | 19 | 13 | 6 | 5 | 10 | 6 |
| Aug 2025 | 17 | 13 | 4 | 8 | 9 | 5 |
| Jul 2025 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 24 | 7 |
| Jun 2025 | 16 | 12 | 3 | 5 | 13 | 4 |
| May 2025 | 21 | 12 | 9 | 4 | 29 | 5 |
| Apr 2025 | 10 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 22 | 18 |
| Mar 2025 | 13 | 12 | 1 | 2 | 32 | 3 |
| Feb 2025 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| Jan 2025 | 13 | 13 | 0 | 7 | 22 | 20 |
| Dec 2024 | 9 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 3 |
| Nov 2024 | 15 | 12 | 3 | 4 | 24 | 4 |
| Oct 2024 | 17 | 12 | 5 | 2 | 17 | 3 |
Kent County foreclosure result lists not available on the county site for: April 2026, July 2026. Kent totals for those months include only the monition (tax) sale, if one was held, so Kent year-over-year change is not shown.
Top ZIP codes, last 12 months
Properties sold at sheriff sale by ZIP code of the property, October 2025 to September 2026, compared with the 12 months before. Counts are small, so a change of a few sales is noise, not a trend.
| ZIP | County | Sold, last 12 mo. | Prior 12 mo. | Share of all sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19720 | New Castle | 25 | 23 | 11% |
| 19802 | New Castle | 19 | 26 | 8% |
| 19801 | New Castle | 18 | 21 | 8% |
| 19702 | New Castle | 18 | 11 | 8% |
| 19904 | Kent | 17 | 15 | 8% |
| 19901 | Kent | 16 | 18 | 7% |
| 19805 | New Castle | 15 | 21 | 7% |
| 19946 | Kent | 9 | 2 | 4% |
| 19977 | Kent | 8 | 5 | 4% |
| 19709 | New Castle | 7 | 8 | 3% |
Next sale: New Castle County, October 13, 2026
The county's gross list for the October 13, 2026 sale (as of October 11, 2026) has 83 properties: 47 still scheduled and 36 already marked stayed (stopped or postponed before sale day). By writ type: 66 mortgage, 15 tax and 2 other judgment. Most-listed ZIP codes: 19702 (10), 19709 (10), 19805 (10), 19720 (8), 19802 (8). Lists change up to sale morning, and many scheduled properties are stayed or bought back.
Download the data
- sheriff-sales-monthly.csv: one row per county sale (sold, third-party, lender buy-back, land bank, writ type, median third-party price).
- sheriff-sales-by-zip.csv: properties per ZIP code per sale (sold lists and the current gross list).
- sheriff-sales-upcoming.csv: counts from the latest pre-sale gross list.
Coverage: June 2023 to September 2026. Free to reuse with a link to this page. Aggregate counts only; the files contain no names, street addresses, parcel or case numbers.
If your home is on a sheriff sale list
Start with free, independent help before you talk to any buyer, including me:
- Call a HUD-approved housing counselor. Counseling is free and counselors can talk to your lender for you. Find a HUD-approved counselor in Delaware or use the CFPB counselor search.
- Use Delaware's foreclosure mediation program. If the house is a 1 to 4 unit home you live in, the Delaware Automatic Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Mediation Program lets you meet your lender face to face. Hotline (800) 220-5424, mortgage.mediation@delaware.gov.
- Check state assistance. The Delaware State Housing Authority lists current homeowner assistance programs.
- If the sale already happened, check whether you are owed surplus money through the Superior Court's Project Rightful Owner. Claiming is free; you don't need to pay a finder.
- Talk to a Delaware attorney about bankruptcy or defenses if the sale date is close.
If selling turns out to be your best option, I'm happy to show you the numbers at (302) 525-0787, and our guide to avoiding foreclosure in Delaware walks through every option. I don't use these lists to contact homeowners.
Methodology
Sources. New Castle County: the Sheriff's Office after-sale result lists (one PDF per monthly sale) and the current gross list, linked from the Sale Lists page. Kent County: the Sheriff's Office after-sale lists for foreclosure and monition sales. Each row in the CSV links to the exact source PDF.
What is counted. One property equals one row on a county result list. "Sold" means the county marked it purchased or sold: to a third-party bidder, bought back by the foreclosing plaintiff, or (New Castle) sold to the land bank. Kent lists some tax-sale properties as "Sold - No Commission"; I count those as sold, in the bidder column, because Kent reports buy-backs separately. New Castle's result lists leave out stayed and cancelled properties, so "listed" counts come only from the pre-sale gross list. Writ type is the county's code: MTG (mortgage), TAX (taxes or other county charges) and JUDG (other money judgments). For Kent, writ type follows the sale (foreclosure or monition). ZIP code is the ZIP printed in the property address. Prices are the county's recorded winning bid; the median uses third-party sales only.
Checks. For every New Castle file, my row count matched the county's own printed total of properties sold (40 of 40 sales). Kent files print a total of all rows, including stayed ones, and every file matched.
Limits. Counts are small, so one month up or down is noise; the 12-month totals are more reliable. Sales are dated by the sale (New Castle) or status date (Kent) and grouped by calendar month. Lists are as published by each county and may be corrected later. Some Kent result links on the county site are broken or point to another month's file; those months are flagged above rather than estimated. Sussex County is not included.
Privacy. The county lists name homeowners, lenders and buyers. I read them only to count rows and never publish or store names, street addresses, parcel numbers or case numbers.
Updates. I refresh this page after each monthly sale with a script that downloads the county files where the county site allows it, parses them and rebuilds the tables and CSVs. Spot an error? Email info@silversidehomebuyers.com and I'll correct it and note the change.
Frequently asked questions
What is a sheriff sale in Delaware?
It is the public auction the county sheriff holds after a court judgment, most often a mortgage foreclosure (a writ of levari facias) or unpaid county taxes (a monition). New Castle County holds its real-estate sale on the second Tuesday of each month. Kent County holds foreclosure sales most months and tax (monition) sales about every three months.
Does being on the sheriff sale list mean the house will be sold?
No. Many listed properties are stayed or postponed before sale day, often because the lender's attorney stops the sale, the owner files bankruptcy, or the loan is reinstated or modified. The “Next sale” section of this page shows how many properties on New Castle County's current list are already marked stayed.
What does 'bought back' mean?
The foreclosing lender or plaintiff placed the winning bid, usually a credit bid of what it is owed, so the property goes back to the lender instead of a third-party buyer.
What happens to money left over after a sheriff sale?
If a property sells for more than the debts and costs, the surplus belongs to the former owner or other lienholders. Delaware Superior Court lists unclaimed excess sheriff-sale proceeds through Project Rightful Owner, and claiming them is free.
Where does this data come from?
From the after-sale result lists the New Castle County and Kent County sheriffs publish for free on their official websites, plus New Castle County's current gross (pre-sale) list. I count rows and publish only totals by month, outcome, writ type and ZIP code.
