SBA 7(a) Medical Office Feasibility Study in South Carolina

Strong loan sizes in a mid-ranked state

Medical offices in South Carolina drew 44 approvals across FY2017 to FY2026, worth $35.8 million gross. The median, $363,250, comes to 1.45x of the figure borrowers elsewhere show, which is the cell's most notable metric, and the central half stretches from a low $77,500 to $1.1 million, a wide band. South Carolina is 31 among states by count, and medical offices sit 14 of 39 on the home-state ranking. No franchise brands appear: 0.00%.

Coastal counties lead

Beaufort and Charleston counties each show 7 loans, followed by Greenville with 6, then Richland and Spartanburg with 4. The pattern leans toward the coast and the Upstate. Equal counts of 6 loans each belong to the two named holders, yet The Huntington National Bank totals $3.4 million while the second, Wells Fargo Bank National Association, totals $1.1 million, a far smaller sum per loan. SBA reports present holders, not originators. Approvals reached 11 loans and $5.8 million in FY2024, after as few as 1 in FY2020.

Outcomes

About 20.6% of the early approvals were cancelled, and the ceiling is 23.5% once undisbursed loans are included, a moderately high cancellation floor that a borrower should read as closing risk. Charge-offs go unreported here, since the funded cohort of the early years is small; the rate is held back, not nil.

What a South Carolina practice study tests

A medical office loan may buy a building, finance a fit-out or purchase a practice, and the study has to say which. It should identify the physician group's specialty, the referral base, payer mix and the share of revenue from procedures, since each drives income. Growth in older residents along the coast helps some submarkets, but the study should count competing practices and hospital-owned clinics instead of citing the trend. Physician recruitment is often the limit on revenue, so the model should carry vacant provider time. A request near the $363,250 median should be reconciled with building size and rent per square foot, and a request above it needs to show why the practice is worth the premium. Coverage and the appraisal both rest on income a successor tenant could pay, which the study should evidence with comparable lease rates for medical space in the same submarket.