Dental Office Feasibility Study in the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX Metro Area

Big-ticket dental practices around Austin

Dentistry is a capital-heavy trade, and SBA's Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos record shows it. Across FY2017 to FY2026 the files hold 76 dental office loans totaling $82.5 million. Half of them fall between $362,975 and $1.3 million, and the median of $700,500 is 1.38x the national class median. Anyone benchmarking an Austin practice against loan sizes seen elsewhere will find this metro pitched well above the usual range.

Where Austin sits among the metros

Austin lands at 27 of 562 when dental volume is sorted across all metro and micro areas. Within the area, dental office is 8 of 39 asset classes, a steady contributor but not a leader. The location quotient of 1.09x puts the class just above its national weight in local lending. Franchise share is 0.00%: these are owner practices, not brand roll-outs. Program choice leans one way, with 67 of them 7(a) and 9 of them 504, so acquisitions, equipment and buildouts financed as working capital far outnumber purchases of owned property.

Counties, holders and the yearly line

Travis County, TX contributes 39 loans and Williamson County, TX contributes 30, so the metro's record is really about Austin proper and the suburbs north of it. On the 7(a) side the current holders SBA names are Live Oak Banking Company (8 loans, $18.3 million), United Community Bank (SC) (7 loans, $8.6 million), First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company (5 loans, $7.0 million) and finally 5 loans ($1.4 million) sit with JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association. Those numbers describe loans SBA lists against each institution as holder, past or present; they are not a verdict on any bank. Look at the timeline and FY2021 jumps out with 17 loans and $13.5 million, but FY2025 tops it on dollars with 12 loans and $22.7 million. FY2017 recorded 9 loans and $7.4 million, FY2018 recorded 6 and $2.4 million, FY2020 recorded 8 and $6.4 million, FY2022 recorded 8 and $10.3 million, FY2024 recorded 5 and $4.9 million, and FY2026 recorded 5 and $6.6 million. Two years, FY2019 and FY2023, are held back for thinness and are not zeros.

Cancellation floor and what is missing

At least 11.9% of FY2017 to FY2024 Austin dental approvals were cancelled after approval. No ceiling is printed, and the charge-off rate is also withheld, so no losses figure appears for this cell. Remember also that Austin's loan count only includes loans whose project county could be placed in the 2023 delineation by name; any that could not be placed are absent from the metro.

What an Austin dental study has to settle

Before a lender sizes a loan near this metro's median, a study should test the patient base reachable from the proposed address, the share of insured versus fee-for-service patients, and whether the associate dentists in the pro forma can actually be recruited. Buildout per operatory, imaging and sterilization drive cost, and debt service coverage should be run both at a loan close to the median and at one near the top of the quartile range. The appraisal must split real property, equipment and practice goodwill, since Austin lenders will treat each differently.