Delaware County

Delaware County sits at a gross rent-to-price ratio of 6.07%, which translates to a cap rate of 3.94% on a standard underwrite. At a $250,587 median purchase price and $1,267.50 in median monthly rent, the market is priced closer to the appreciation end of the spectrum than the cash-flow end. The appreciation score of 87 reflects 5.22% year-over-year home price growth, which is meaningful in a county with an affordability index of 76 and a sub-$251K median. The cash-flow score of 61, by contrast, signals that current financing conditions make net positive cash flow difficult to engineer without a larger down payment or off-market pricing. At 6.85% on a 30-year note, the modeled mortgage payment alone is $1,314 per month, which already exceeds the $1,267.50 median rent before a single dollar of operating expense is counted.

The modeled cash-on-cash return of -10.2% and monthly cash flow of -$490 make the numbers honest about who this market does and does not serve right now. A pure cash-flow buyer who needs the property to cover its own carry costs from month one should look elsewhere unless they are putting significantly more than the modeled 20% down, buying below median, or accessing rents in the upper quartile of the local range. The appreciation buyer has a cleaner case: 5.22% annual price growth in an affordably priced county, ranked 16th out of 62 New York counties and in the 77th percentile nationally, suggests the market has been capturing real price momentum without the froth of high-cost metros. A value-add operator who can buy distressed assets at a meaningful discount to the $250,587 median and force equity through renovation may be the best-positioned buyer type here, particularly if they can push rents above the $1,267.50 midpoint.

The stability score of 50 is the most cautious signal in the dataset and deserves attention. Delaware County has a population of 44,637, which means the rental pool is thin by any standard and concentration risk is real. A small shift in local employment or population can move vacancy and rent levels in ways that would be buffered in a larger market. No economic anchor data was provided, so no specific employer claims can be made, but any investor underwriting this county should independently verify the depth of local demand drivers before committing capital.

On carry costs, the tax and insurance load deserves its own line on your underwrite. Using the state-average effective property tax rate of 1.72% (Tax Foundation 2024, with the caveat that actual county and township rates may differ), annual property taxes on a $250,587 purchase come to approximately $4,310. Add $601 in estimated annual insurance at a 0.24% rate and the combined monthly tax and insurance burden is $409. That $409, sitting on top of a $1,314 mortgage payment, leaves the property running a deficit before any maintenance, management, or vacancy reserve is applied. At 1.72%, New York's state-average rate is high enough to deserve serious attention in your underwrite, and investors should pull the specific Delaware County tax roll figures before closing, as township-level assessments can vary considerably from the state average.

Compared to the neighboring counties in the dataset, Delaware's rent-to-price ratio of 6.07% falls in the middle of the pack. Monroe County at 6.68% and Wayne County at 6.11% both post modestly better ratios, and Monroe's $1,499.49 median rent is $232 higher than Delaware's, which makes a meaningful difference to monthly cash flow math. Madison County is the closest comparable, with a nearly identical overall score of 68 and a slightly better ratio of 6.22% at a slightly lower $246,228 median. Orleans County carries the lowest median price in the comparison group at $189,231, which gives a leverage-constrained buyer more room to engineer cash flow, and it scores 70 overall. The case for Delaware over its neighbors comes down to appreciation: the 87 appreciation score is the highest figure available in this dataset, and for an investor who is building a long-hold position and expects home price growth to do meaningful work over a 7-10 year hold, that trajectory at a sub-$251K entry point is the most compelling argument the data supports.