SBA 504 Dental Office Feasibility Study in Utah

Utah is first among its classes for dental 504 lending

No other class ranks above dental offices in Utah's SBA 504 lending: the class holds 1 of 39 inside the state. Utah is 3 among states by loan count, with 90 loans approved from FY2017 to FY2026 for $61.8 million. The median loan of $586,500 is 0.98x of the nationwide 504 benchmark while the interquartile range is $336,250 to $1.0 million, so size is unremarkable. Franchises are absent. What is distinctive is the place of dentistry in Utah small-business real estate finance, rather than any difference in loan terms.

A two-company market

Two development companies hold nearly the whole record. Mountain West Small Business Finance accounts for 71 loans and $45.0 million; the other, Intermountain Business Lending, Inc., for 18 loans and $16.6 million. A borrower in Utah is likely to deal with one of them. Salt Lake County has 34 loans, Utah County 24, Cache 11 and Davis 10, with Washington County at 4, Weber at 3, and Tooele at 2. Annual volume peaked at 16 loans in each of FY2021 and FY2022 and drifted to 5 loans in FY2025 and 3 in FY2026, which may partly reflect later approvals not yet visible.

Cancellation of Utah dental approvals dated FY2017 to FY2024 shows a floor of 8.5%, and the ceiling is no different. No write-off is on record among the 50 loans funded earlier: both the running measure and the five-year measure are 0.00%. Because these are floors drawn from a small cohort, they should be read as encouraging but incomplete.

Testing a Utah dental request

A Utah dental study needs to prove that a practice of the proposed size can fill its schedule. That means counting households and insured patients near the site, mapping the other offices in the trade area, and examining the sponsor's own patient list if this is a relocation or acquisition. It should price the building, whether purchased or constructed, along with chairs, imaging and sterilisation equipment, and show cash flow through an opening year when revenue lags payroll. Under the 504 structure the lender is looking at the real estate, so the appraisal must support the property value independent of the practice, including how a different dentist could use the space.