What SBA's own loan files show about lending in the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC Metro Area, every asset class together, and what a feasibility study for a project there has to test.
SBA files rank Virginia Beach 55 of 928 by loans: 1,970 approvals in FY2017 to FY2026, $1.16 billion gross. Median loan: $277,850 in Virginia Beach, 1.34x the national median. That makes Virginia Beach a larger-ticket market. In Virginia Beach, the middle half in Virginia Beach of loans runs from $108,075 to $607,825. Because $108,075 and $607,825 frame the middle half, a Virginia Beach borrower should weigh any Virginia Beach request against $277,850 in Virginia Beach.
Program mix in Virginia Beach: 1,504 under SBA 7(a) and 466 under SBA 504. As SBA flags them, 19.5% of Virginia Beach loans are franchise loans in Virginia Beach. Asset by asset, Virginia Beach shows limited-service restaurant with 81, full-service restaurant with 80 and fitness center with 64. A further 1,413 Virginia Beach loans sit in no named class in Virginia Beach. The class lines for Virginia Beach therefore never sum to 1,970. County by county, Virginia Beach reads Virginia Beach city, VA with 609, Chesapeake city, VA with 376 and Norfolk city, VA with 231. A state line crosses Virginia Beach. Rules differ by side in Virginia Beach. Name the state behind each Virginia Beach input.
In Virginia Beach, each line reflects SBA's files in Virginia Beach on loans a holder carries or carried in Virginia Beach, as current holder, and carry no judgment of lenders. Virginia Beach holders should be read that way in Virginia Beach. The Virginia Beach SBA 7(a) table opens with Wells Fargo Bank National Association with 126 loans worth $16.7 million; Truist Bank with 93 loans worth $53.3 million; The Huntington National Bank with 87 loans worth $40.7 million. No holder in Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC reaches the 504 table threshold. The Virginia Beach 504 side carries no lender names. In Virginia Beach, the top holder leads the rest in Virginia Beach. A Virginia Beach borrower may still in Virginia Beach approach any lender in Virginia Beach.
Of Virginia Beach approvals from FY2017 to FY2024 in Virginia Beach, at least 12.2% were cancelled after approval. Virginia Beach has a ceiling of 13.6% when undisbursed loans count as cancelled in Virginia Beach. For the Virginia Beach disbursed cohort of 738 loans, FY2017 to FY2021, the floor is 5.6%. 3.3% were charged off inside five years. Virginia Beach's busiest printed year was FY2025, with 292 loans. Loans count toward Virginia Beach via county of record for the project against the July 2023 delineation, so the loan whose county fails to match goes uncounted in any area. The 1,970 loans in Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC include those in Virginia Beach that fall in no named class.
Demand ranks first for Virginia Beach. Weigh the people near the actual site in Virginia Beach, not the metropolitan area in Virginia Beach, while holding a slow start for Virginia Beach. Then cost in Virginia Beach. A $277,850 median loan is a rough guide, yet rebuild the budget from quotes, and an honest Virginia Beach contingency. Debt service coverage decides Virginia Beach. State the ratio under a base case then in a stress case, letting a Virginia Beach lender see the margin. Expect a Virginia Beach appraiser to test values, so any occupancy claim should be verifiable in Virginia Beach. Inside Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC, submarkets differ widely. Its 1,970 loans average across them all, so a Virginia Beach study must name the Virginia Beach submarket it means. With the median at 1.34x the national level, a smaller Virginia Beach project may look unusual in Virginia Beach. The study should explain its sizing for Virginia Beach against $277,850.
| Loans approved, FY2017 to FY2026 | 1,970 |
|---|---|
| Gross dollars approved | $1.16 billion |
| Median loan | $277,850 |
| Middle half of loans, from | $108,075 |
| Middle half of loans, to | $607,825 |
| SBA 7(a) loans | 1,504 |
| SBA 504 loans | 466 |
| Franchise share of loans | 19.5% |
| Rank among metro and micro areas by loans | 55 of 928 |
| Median loan against the national median | 1.34x |
| Cancelled after approval, FY2017 to FY2024 approvals (a floor) | 12.2% |
|---|---|
| The same, counting loans still undisbursed as cancelled (a ceiling) | 13.6% |
| Charged off to date, FY2017 to FY2021 disbursed loans (a floor) | 5.6% |
| Charged off within five years of approval | 3.3% |
| Loans in that cohort | 738 |
Both rates are floors. SBA withholds the status of open loans, so a loan counts as charged off only once SBA reports it; a rate needs at least 30 loans in its cohort and is otherwise not reported.
SBA loans approved in the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC Metro Area, by fiscal year
| Fiscal year | Loans | Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| FY2017 | 182 | $88.5 million |
| FY2018 | 198 | $113.0 million |
| FY2019 | 164 | $74.1 million |
| FY2020 | 136 | $78.8 million |
| FY2021 | 174 | $123.9 million |
| FY2022 | 180 | $106.3 million |
| FY2023 | 200 | $121.7 million |
| FY2024 | 241 | $135.9 million |
| FY2025 | 292 | $181.9 million |
| FY2026 | 203 | $131.5 million |
| Asset class | Loans |
|---|---|
| Not in any of the 39 asset classes | 1,413 |
| Limited-service restaurant | 81 |
| Full-service restaurant | 80 |
| Fitness center | 64 |
| Automotive mechanical repair (car and truck) | 54 |
| Hotel and motel | 48 |
| Child care center | 34 |
| Dental office | 25 |
| Medical office (physicians) | 25 |
| Beauty salon | 24 |
| Beverage manufacturing (breweries, wineries, distilleries) | 22 |
| Car wash | 16 |
| Coffee shop and snack bar | 15 |
| Veterinary clinic | 14 |
| Gas station and truck stop | 10 |
| Rehabilitation and therapy clinic | 7 |
| School (elementary and secondary, including charter) | 7 |
| Self storage | 5 |
| Caterers (includes banquet halls with catering staff) | 5 |
| Grocery store | 5 |
Classes with 5 or more loans; smaller ones are withheld, and more where a small one could be derived.
| Lender | Loans | Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| 504 Capital Corporation | 324 | $186.7 million |
| Lender | Loans | Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| Wells Fargo Bank National Association | 126 | $16.7 million |
| Truist Bank | 93 | $53.3 million |
| The Huntington National Bank | 87 | $40.7 million |
| Northeast Bank (ME) | 81 | $11.0 million |
| Newtek Bank, National Association | 74 | $24.4 million |
Lenders with 5 or more loans here; a lender with fewer is not listed, and loans SBA or a receiver holds are counted but never listed as a lender.
| County | Loans |
|---|---|
| Virginia Beach city, VA | 609 |
| Chesapeake city, VA | 376 |
| Norfolk city, VA | 231 |
| Newport News city, VA | 165 |
| James City County, VA | 124 |
| Suffolk city, VA | 90 |
| Hampton city, VA | 86 |
| Portsmouth city, VA | 79 |
| York County, VA | 67 |
| Isle of Wight County, VA | 42 |
Counties with 5 or more loans; smaller ones are not listed.
Metro is the CBSA (metropolitan or micropolitan statistical area) of the loan's project county, July 2023 delineation (OMB Bulletin 23-01). The county is matched by name (manifests/ld2/county-cbsa-map.csv); a loan whose county cannot be placed in a 2023 CBSA is left out of every metro.
All assets: every 7(a) and 504 approval in the metro, including those outside the 39 asset classes.
A value marked withheld rests on fewer than 5 loans, or is withheld so that such a figure cannot be derived from other published figures.
Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, 7(a) and 504 loan-level FOIA files (data.sba.gov), as of 2026-09-30; areas from the U.S. Census Bureau CBSA delineation, July 2023 (OMB Bulletin 23-01); Loan Analytics metro cell MT-47260.
A worked example of the feasibility study a lender would read for a hotel project in North Carolina, financed with a conventional bank loan.
A worked example of the feasibility study a lender would read for a hotel project in Virginia, financed with an SBA 504 loan.
Loan Analytics prepares the feasibility study a lender reads before it commits: for a commercial project in the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC Metro Area, financed under SBA 7(a), SBA 504, USDA Business and Industry or a conventional bank loan. Tell us the project and the lender's deadline, and we reply with scope, timeline and fee.
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