Sell Your Commercial Property In Lowell, MA

Who rents in Lowell

Lowell is a majority-renter city. Renters occupy 24,514 of Lowell's 43,183 occupied homes, or 56.8%, per Census ACS 2020-2024 table B25003. Middlesex County runs 38.7% renter on the same county table. Lowell holds 10.0% of all Middlesex County renter households.

Incomes trail the suburbs around it. Lowell's median household income is $78,658 under ACS 2020-2024 table B19013. Middlesex County's median is $130,847, and the Massachusetts median is $103,960. Lowell's figure equals 60.1% of the county median.

Students add a steady layer of demand. UMass Lowell enrolled 16,826 students in fall 2025, per the UMass Student Profile, Fall 2025. Undergraduate headcount rose 1.4%, to 12,294, while graduate headcount fell. That is about 142 UMass Lowell students for every 1,000 Lowell residents.

Jobs tilt toward health care and making things. Educational services, health care and social assistance employ 28.5% of Lowell's employed residents, per ACS profile table DP03. Manufacturing employs 9,435 Lowell residents, or 15.5%, against 9.0% statewide.

Rents and affordability in Lowell

Lowell's median gross rent is $1,625 a month under ACS 2020-2024 table B25064. The Middlesex County median is $2,201 per the county table, a $576 gap. Lowell rents also sit $137 under the $1,762 Massachusetts median.

Federal benchmarks run far higher. Under HUD's FY2027 fair market rents, the Lowell, MA HUD Metro FMR Area two-bedroom FMR is $2,383. That is $758, or 46.6%, above Lowell's median gross rent.

Next-door towns cost more. Chelmsford's median gross rent is $2,062 under ACS 2020-2024, and Dracut's is $1,839 per the same table. Chelmsford is 17.9% renter and Dracut is 20.2%, so Lowell carries most of the area's rental housing.

Lower rents still stretch tenants. Some 50.8% of Lowell renter households spend 30% or more of income on rent, per ACS table B25070. Another 26.4% spend half or more.

Apartment stock in Lowell

Lowell has 15,889 homes in buildings of five or more units, or 35.4% of its 44,850 housing units, per ACS table B25024. Middlesex County is 25.4% on that measure under the county table. Statewide, the share is 22.2%.

The mill-city mix shows in the numbers. Two- to four-unit buildings hold 11,937 Lowell homes, or 26.6% of the stock. Complexes of 50 or more units hold 4,609 homes, which is 29.0% of the five-plus total.

Most buildings are old. Some 75.1% of Lowell homes were built before 1980 under ACS table B25034, against 67.4% statewide. Lowell's median year built is 1953 per table B25035. Owners who sell commercial property in Lowell, MA should expect buyers to price boilers, roofs and wiring into offers.

Rental vacancy is 3.4% in Lowell under ACS profile table DP04. Middlesex County's rate is also 3.4% on the same table.

Property taxes in Middlesex County: Lowell rates

Lowell's FY2026 residential tax rate is $11.35 per $1,000 of assessed value. The commercial, industrial and personal property rate is $22.04, per the Lowell Board of Assessors page. Lowell's own Board of Assessors, not Middlesex County, completes these assessments.

Apartments are taxed on the residential side. General Laws chapter 59, section 2A places property held for human habitation with one or more dwelling units in class one, residential. The Department of Revenue classification codes list apartments of four to eight units as 111 and more than eight units as 112.

Here is a worked example for a $2,000,000 apartment building assessed at that value.

• Residential tax: $2,000,000 / 1,000 x $11.35 = $22,700, or 1.135% of value.
• Same value at the $22.04 commercial rate: $44,080, a $21,380 difference.
• State deed excise at $2 per $500 under chapter 64D, section 1: $8,000.

Lowell voters adopted the Community Preservation Act in 2019, so bills also carry a CPA surcharge. Assessments are rising. Lowell's FY2027 preliminary values show apartment assessments up 7.10% on average from FY2026, per the Assessors' office.

Anyone looking to sell commercial real estate in Lowell, MA should keep income records ready. Under chapter 59, section 38D, assessors may request a sworn written return within 60 days. An abatement application is due by the first actual tax bill installment's due date under section 59.

Landlord rules in Lowell

Lowell requires a rental unit permit for every unit rented for 30 or more consecutive days. Lowell Code chapter 176, section 176-2 ties each permit to a satisfactory city code enforcement inspection. In buildings with six or more rental units, inspectors may sample 10% or three units, whichever is greater.

Permits expire three years from issuance. Three or more violation notices, or one life-safety notice, within that period revoke the permit. Violations carry a penalty of up to $300, and each day counts separately. Anyone selling commercial property in Lowell should hand the buyer current permits.

Massachusetts caps a security deposit at one month's rent. Chapter 186, section 15B requires a separate, interest-bearing Massachusetts bank account and return within 30 days after the tenancy ends. Nonpayment under a written lease allows a 14-day notice to quit, per section 11.

A tenancy at will ends on notice equal to the rent interval or 30 days, whichever is longer, under section 12. Chapter 40P sets a statewide policy that broadly prohibits any regulatory scheme based on rent control.

What it means for an owner

Lowell pairs a 56.8% renter share with 3.4% rental vacancy. Rents sit $758 under the HUD two-bedroom FMR, which matters on voucher units. At $11.35 per $1,000, the residential rate keeps taxes near 1.135% of value before the CPA surcharge.

Before you sell your apartment building in Lowell, gather the rent roll, rental unit permits, the FY2026 bill and a list of capital work. Buyers will weigh a 1953 median build year against rents still below the county.

Run your numbers in our cap rate calculator, then see how we buy 5+ unit apartment buildings. If you plan to sell commercial property in Lowell, MA, from Centralville to Belvidere, we can talk price and timing.

We also buy near Dracut and Chelmsford, and we can explain how to sell multifamily property in Lowell, including the permit and tax records buyers ask for first.