SBA 7(a) Skilled Nursing Feasibility Study in California

California leads the country in skilled nursing 7(a) lending

No state has more 7(a) skilled nursing loans than California, which ranks first by loan count. SBA's file shows 112 loans for FY2017 to FY2026 and $119.8 million in gross dollars, yet the class is only 22 of 39 among the industries financed inside California, so it is a specialty in a very large lending market. The median loan is $710,000, or 1.42x the median for skilled nursing nationally. Half of the loans lie between $233,675 and $1.4 million, and the franchise share is 0.00%.

Lenders and where the beds are

Celtic Bank Corporation holds the most, 15 loans. BayFirst National Bank, then Columbia Bank, then Live Oak Banking Company each hold 7, and Open Bank has 6. The table shows present holders in SBA's data and we draw no conclusion about any bank's standards. Los Angeles County has 32 loans, far ahead of San Diego with 12, San Bernardino with 9, and Orange and Sacramento with 7 each. Approvals were 9 in FY2017 and rose to 17 loans in FY2025 and 15 loans worth $28.4 million in FY2026, the largest yearly dollar figure in the file.

Outcome floors

California skilled nursing approvals made in FY2017 through FY2024 show cancellation of 11.3% at the least, and adding undisbursed loans leaves that unchanged. The 45 loans in California's seasoned cohort, funded FY2017 to FY2021, record a charge-off floor of 0.00% as of now and 0.00% at the five-year mark. A base of 45 loans offers little comfort to a new borrower, and open loans can still fail; the figures are floors.

What a study for a California facility must show

A skilled nursing study turns on payer mix before it turns on beds: the share of residents on Medicaid, Medicare and private pay drives revenue, and reimbursement rules change. Licensing, staffing ratios and wage levels in the county have to be priced in, and the occupancy needed to cover the debt must be shown against what comparable facilities in that county actually run. With a median near $710,000 and a top quarter above $1.4 million, the study should explain whether the loan covers a purchase of an operating facility, an expansion or equipment. Valuation covers the operating business and the building together, so both need evidence. Coding caution: hospice beds and assisted living with a nursing component sit under the skilled nursing code, so this page cannot pull them out.