Medical Office Feasibility Study in the Pittsburgh, PA Metro Area

Pittsburgh: medical offices well below the national weight

Medical offices take 15 of 39 among Pittsburgh's classes in SBA's file, and Pittsburgh sits at 53 of 488 among areas. SBA approved 25 loans totalling $9.9 million in Pittsburgh over FY2017 to FY2026. In Pittsburgh the class is under-weighted at 0.45x on location quotient, with a $163,000 median that is 0.48x the national figure. Both ratios are under the national mark, and the median of $163,000 describes a modest-sized loan.

The middle half of loans runs from $76,500 to $350,000. Franchised units: 0.00%. SBA names The Huntington National Bank as holder of 7, carrying $864,500. Allegheny County holds 18 of the 25 loans. No 7(a) or 504 count for Pittsburgh.

FY2017 shows 7 loans worth $3.6 million, FY2018 shows 5 loans worth $1.4 million and FY2020 shows 5 loans worth $3.1 million. FY2023, FY2024 and FY2025 all print 0 loans and $0, true zeros, so the file records none for Pittsburgh in those years. The Pittsburgh series skips thin years, not zeros. A rate needs 30 loans, and Pittsburgh has fewer, so none is published.

What a Pittsburgh medical office study must test

A plan for a medical office has to test the leasable area against the practices expected to occupy it, rents against the cost of building or fit-out, and the pace at which space leases. For a practice that occupies its own space, the test is collections per provider against the payment and the physician's own pay. With a median of $163,000, a lender will ask whether the request is a fit-out loan or a property loan. The appraisal has to value the real estate apart from any practice, and the study should supply both views.

Three empty recent years

The three consecutive zero years at the end of the printed series deserve attention. They do not prove a trend, and the page offers no cause, but a lender will notice that the busiest printed years sit early in the period. A borrower should therefore expect extra questions about why a medical office would be financed now, and should have lease commitments, provider letters or a purchase contract ready. The class sits 15 of 39 among Pittsburgh's own classes, a middling line of lending, which is one more reason the plan should carry its own evidence of need.