RV Park Feasibility Study in Texas

Texas leads the country in SBA RV park lending

No state approves more SBA loans for RV parks and campgrounds than Texas, ranked 1 of 47, and at a 1.73x location quotient the class looms larger in Texas lending than in the national book. The 117 Texas approvals from FY2017 to FY2026 carried $198.0 million. Loan size is the distinctive metric: the Texas median of $1.1 million is 1.54x the national RV park median, and it is the one metric that differs from Texas lending across all classes and from RV parks nationally. The middle of the Texas range spans $460,000 to $2.6 million. Inside Texas the class ranks 23 of 39.

A dispersed map and a 504-heavy mix

RV park lending in Texas does not cluster in one metro. Harris County leads with only 9 loans, followed by Brazoria with 6, Galveston with 5 and Chambers and Collin with 4 each, so most loans sit in counties outside the top of the list. SBA 504 carries 32 loans, with Capital Certified Development Corporation holding 10 for $12.7 million and North Texas Certified Development Corporation 6 for $6.2 million; 7(a) carries 85. Live Oak Banking Company holds 10 loans for $36.0 million and The Huntington National Bank 6 for $21.3 million. A brand appears on just 1.7% of loans.

Texas RV park loans show no booked loss: across 55 Texas park loans funded over FY2017 to FY2021, no loss has been booked, a 0.00% floor in the early years and after them. Open loans can still fail. Cancellation is the real risk at 13.0% of FY2017 to FY2024 approvals, with the ceiling also 13.0%, so nothing from those years is still waiting to fund. Dollars peaked at 21 loans and $36.1 million in FY2021 and 16 loans and $34.5 million in FY2025.

What a Texas RV park study must answer

An RV park study in Texas has to separate the demand segments, because they behave differently: overnight travelers, seasonal visitors, recreation guests and long-stay residents. Each has its own rate, length of stay and risk, and a park that leans on one segment must show what happens when that segment leaves. Cost covers land, site work, utilities, pads and amenities, set against a median loan near $1.1 million. Coverage should rest on stabilised occupancy by segment after a realistic fill-up. The appraisal will rely on income and comparable park sales, and because Texas RV resorts, ordinary RV parks and tent campgrounds all report under a single code, the record cannot tell them apart.