NADCO Statement on FY 2013 SBA Lending

October 29, 2013

By Daniel Son
NADCO

Washington, DC – The National Association of Development Companies (NADCO) issued the following statement reacting to the news that FY 2013 was the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) third highest year of lending in history.

“The road out of the Great Recession is going to be paved by the hard work and resilience of our nation’s 28 million small businesses,” said Beth Solomon, NADCO’s President & CEO. “The SBA’s Real Estate Advantage (504) Loan (REAL) exemplifies smart public-private partnerships that empower entrepreneurs and job creators to grow and hire. Congress should put the pedal to the metal on supporting initiatives like these that cost the taxpayers nothing and offer tremendous return.”

According to the SBA, the REAL (504) Loan Program, which enables small businesses to buy real property and fix assets, produced more than 7,700 loans in FY 2013, for a total of more than $11.7 billion in small business finance. Although this is a slight decrease from FY 2012, this decrease demonstrates the importance of SBA’s 504 Refinancing Program, which temporarily allowed small business owners to use our 504 program to refinance commercial real estate and other fixed assets and gave SBA a record year for 504 lending in FY 2012. That program was authorized by the Small Business Jobs Act and expired in 2012, but a one-year extension of the program was included in the President’s FY14 budget and a bipartisan measure moving in Congress would reinstate the popular program permanently.

Solomon added: “I applaud Acting Administrator Hulit, former Administrator Mills, our SBA and bank partners who are without peer in their passion for American small business. NADCO’s nearly 270 Certified Development Companies (CDCs) will continue to work hand-in-hand with the SBA, local banks and small businesses to bolster our economic recovery.”