The oldest stock on this site
Darby Borough was settled in 1682, incorporated May 3, 1853, and grew from 3,429 people in 1900 to 14,059 by 1960 on 0.84 square miles. The houses match the timeline: of 9,434 units in ZIP 19023, 60.3% are attached, 33.3% went up before 1940 and another 43.9% between 1940 and 1959. Yeadon, incorporated in 1893 on 1.6 square miles, runs 41.2% attached and 39.6% built before 1940, with 33.7% more in the two decades after.
For a lender, a row or a twin is a single-family house, so FHA at 3.5% down works on almost every block. The build years set the appraisal, and on this stock it comes down to the paint, the roof and whether the electrical service carries the house. The full list is short and it’s the same one every time. It’s fine, it’s fixable. There’s also a two-unit share of 10% to 13% in both boroughs, which is rare in Delco and opens the multi-unit route at 3.5% down.
The inspections
Yeadon’s point-of-sale inspection is $150, two visits, with the sanitary sewer looked at as part of the general inspection, an application at least 30 days out and a notarized buyer affidavit. A provisional certificate exists on graduated fees. The borough also passed a lead inspection ordinance in January 2025; ask the borough what it currently requires on a pre-1978 house, because it may land on the same visit.
Darby Borough charges $175 for its certificate of occupancy, plus $75 for a reinspection or a no-show, and wants two weeks’ notice with no exceptions. Carbon monoxide alarm in the basement, ground-fault outlets within six feet of water, sump checked. A sewer lateral report form comes with the packet.
Get both scopes done before the appraisal. One repair conversation is cheaper than two.
What they sell for
Seventy closings in Darby in July 2026, the middle one at $199,950, and a typical 65 days to get there. Careful with the geography: the area Movoto measures spans ZIP 19023, which reaches into Darby Township and Colwyn as well as the borough. Yeadon’s July median came in at $233,000 at 49 days, but on four sales. Four is a sample too small to plan around. American Community Survey figures for 2020-24 put the median owner-estimated value at $201,900 in 19050 and $153,300 in 19023.
The practical read: both boroughs sit well under the $290,000 sale price cap in the county’s 2026 Homeownership First summary (delcopa.gov, effective June 1, 2026). What decides a deal here is cash to close and the repair list.
Two tax bills, two very different rates
Yeadon set 2026 millage at 10.932 after council adopted a 1.1-mill increase on December 22, 2025, trimmed down from the 1.9 mills first proposed, on a general fund of $11,289,364. With the county’s 4.609 and the 2025-26 school rate, the county’s table puts Yeadon at 48.401 mills, about $4,840 a year per $100,000 of assessment. Darby Borough is at 18.40 mills, the highest municipal rate in this part of the county, for a total of 55.869 mills, about $5,587 per $100,000. Both boroughs levy a 1% wage tax.
Transfer tax is the standard 2% in both. School tax is William Penn’s, and it’s the largest line on either bill.
The creek, and what it means for the loan
Darby Creek has been called one of the country’s most flood-prone streams and it has the record to back it up. After Floyd on September 16, 1999, the borough bought and demolished 43 houses; that ground is John Bartram Memorial Park today. The USGS gauge near Darby peaked at 12.95 feet and 6,060 cubic feet per second on August 4, 2020 during Isaias, which is still the record.
It’s live business. On August 18, 2026 Yeadon asked property owners to report streambank damage from the June 14-15, 2026 storm to the Delaware County Conservation District at 610-892-9484 for the Emergency Watershed Protection Program. If a house is anywhere near the water, get the flood determination ordered early, because flood insurance goes into the payment the lender qualifies you on.
Trains, trolleys and a very old library
Darby Borough has its own Regional Rail stop at 399 S. 4th St on the Wilmington/Newark Line, electrified back in 1928, with Curtis Park the next stop south. Yeadon has Fernwood-Yeadon at 413 S. Church Lane on the Media/Wawa Line, electrified December 2, 1928. The T3 trolley, renamed from Route 13 on February 24, 2025, runs to the Yeadon Loop and on to the Darby Transit Center on Main Street, where it’s been going since 1971.
At 1001 Main St the Darby Free Library has been in continuous service since 1743, twelve years after Franklin’s Library Company, and stayed a subscription library until 1898. It’s adding an elevator, with a temporary mini-library on the first floor while the work runs. The Darby Creek Valley Association’s watershed-wide cleanup is set for Saturday, September 26, 2026.
