Feasibility Study Data for the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX Metro Area

Where Houston sits among SBA markets

The Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands metro area is one of the heaviest SBA markets in the country. Across FY2017 to FY2026 the record holds 12,976 approved loans and $9.73 billion in gross dollars, a rank of 8 of 928 on loan count. Nearly all of that volume is 7(a), with 12,288 loans against 688 under 504. Loan size stands out: $310,600 at the median, 1.49x what the national median shows, while half of all loans land between $115,750 and $860,000. Franchises account for 21.4% of loans, so branded operators are a visible part of what gets financed here.

Restaurants lead the named classes: full-service restaurant with 466 loans, limited-service restaurant with 452, child care center with 419, fitness center with 371 and hotel and motel with 324. Yet 8,652 loans fall outside every named class, which makes general business credit the real bulk of the record. Harris County carries 8,352 loans, Fort Bend County 1,794 and Montgomery County 1,395, so a project's county matters a great deal inside this one area. Annual volume fell from 1,498 loans in FY2017 to a low of 917 in FY2020, then climbed to a high of 1,786 in FY2025 before easing to 1,304 in FY2026, when dollars stood at $1.12 billion.

Who holds the loans

For 7(a), SBA's records list Wells Fargo Bank National Association with 959 loans and $248.9 million, The Huntington National Bank with 906 loans and $579.1 million, with JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association third at 746 loans and $230.2 million. Among 504 lenders, Capital Certified Development Corporation is first at 220 loans and $393.4 million, and North Texas Certified Development Corporation second at 137 loans and $179.4 million. Each name appears because SBA's files tie it to loans it holds or held in the Houston area. That is a count of volume. It is no verdict on any lender's habits, and no borrower should read it as a list of what a lender demands. What they do show is which institutions already carry a sizable local book, a useful fact when a study is being prepared for a lender to read.

Floors, and what a Houston study must test

Looking at approvals made between FY2017 and FY2024, cancellations ran to at least 11.1%, and to 12.2% if loans never disbursed are treated as cancelled. Charge-offs on the FY2017 to FY2021 funded cohort of 5,446 loans stand at 9.3% or more so far, and 5.9% happened within five years; loans that remain open could push each figure up. No figure for this area is flagged against the state or the nation, so the totals are description, not a signal. Membership in the area comes from the county where each project sits, placed in the July 2023 statistical-area list by name; any loan whose county will not place is excluded everywhere, while approvals outside the named classes still count in the totals. A feasibility study here has to fix the county first, then test demand for the specific business, build-out cost, debt service coverage on a conservative year, and an appraisal tied to local comparables. For restaurants, the lead class, that means sales per seat and occupancy cost. Each study carries the signature of Daniel Smith, MAI.