AmiSight 3/12: The SBA Loan Program Didn’t Shrink. It Scaled Up.
- Ami Kassar
- 1 hour ago
- 1 min read
Five months into the federal fiscal year, SBA lending is slowing in an unexpected way.
From Oct. 1 through the end of February, lenders approved $11.8 billion in SBA 7(a) loans, down from $14.6 billion during the same period last year — a decline of about 19.6 percent.
But the more striking number isn’t the dollars. It’s the number of loans.
At this point last year, the SBA had approved 34,105 loans. This year, the number is 21,638 — a 36.5 percent drop.
That means loan counts have fallen nearly twice as fast as total lending volume.
In essence, the key change is not just a slowdown in SBA lending, but a significant shift in the types of loans being made.
The clearest signal of that shift is the average loan size. Last year, the typical SBA 7(a) loan was about $429,000. This year, it has climbed to roughly $544,000.
Fewer loans. Larger loans.
That combination strongly suggests the real decline is happening at the smaller end of the market. Head over to my 21Hats column to continue reading.
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