What SBA's own loan files show about lending in the Wilmington, NC Metro Area, every asset class together, and what a feasibility study for a project there has to test.
Wilmington, NC logged 830 SBA approvals in FY2017 to FY2026, worth $586.4 million in gross dollars. Wilmington ranks as an upper-tier area, 113 of 928 by loan count. In Wilmington, NC, every asset class is pooled for Wilmington. That view of Wilmington is missing from NC and national tables.
$125,000 to $799,400 spans the middle half of Wilmington loans, and $347,500 is the median. Outside data makes Wilmington requests look light; at 1.67x, Wilmington is well above the national level. Wilmington: 7(a) leads the mix, with 774 7(a) loans against 56 under 504. Wilmington franchised businesses took 15.9% of loans, so a branded concept in Wilmington needs a brand-cost check in Wilmington.
In Wilmington, NC, full-service restaurant (67 loans); limited-service restaurant (33 loans); dental office (21 loans); fitness center (19 loans) lead by loans in Wilmington. Another 547 Wilmington loans sit in no tracked class, so Wilmington totals describe operating businesses, not only property. Wilmington's top counties by loans: 578 loans in New Hanover County, NC, 168 loans in Brunswick County, NC, and 84 loans in Pender County, NC. Wilmington 7(a) record, longest first: Live Oak Banking Company with 118 loans, $115.6 million; First Bank (NC) with 43 loans, $35.2 million; Wells Fargo Bank National Association with 42 loans, $7.9 million. Wilmington 504 list: Business Expansion Funding Corporation ($31.4 million, 34 loans); Carolina Business Capital, Inc. ($8.1 million, 7 loans). SBA keeps records of Wilmington loans each lender holds or held; Live Oak Banking Company leads with 118, and no Wilmington lender is judged.
Wilmington goes from 81 loans in FY2017 to 89 in FY2026, ending higher: the peak was 115 in FY2025, and the trough 63 in FY2018. Wilmington cancellation after approval runs at 11.3% as a floor for Wilmington approvals, FY2017 to FY2024, and 12.9% as a ceiling that counts Wilmington loans still undisbursed as cancelled. Of 319 Wilmington loans disbursed in FY2017 to FY2021, 3.1% are charged off, a floor. Early Wilmington charge-offs, those within five years, reach 1.6%. Wilmington faces a geography limit: Wilmington, NC uses the July 2023 definition; 830 loans are matched by county, and unplaceable Wilmington loans are omitted, so Wilmington counts and rates are floors.
Any Wilmington study defines its Wilmington trade area first, since lending in New Hanover County, NC differs from lending across Wilmington, NC. If a Wilmington concept resembles full-service restaurant, Wilmington offers size and lender precedent; other Wilmington concepts must rest on their own Wilmington evidence. Wilmington quotes should price construction and equipment. Then Wilmington debt service coverage is tested at $347,500, and again at $799,400. Wilmington is metropolitan, so submarkets differ, and a Wilmington appraisal should use the site's own Wilmington submarket comparables. The Wilmington record frames questions, and each lender in Wilmington decides on its own.
| Loans approved, FY2017 to FY2026 | 830 |
|---|---|
| Gross dollars approved | $586.4 million |
| Median loan | $347,500 |
| Middle half of loans, from | $125,000 |
| Middle half of loans, to | $799,400 |
| SBA 7(a) loans | 774 |
| SBA 504 loans | 56 |
| Franchise share of loans | 15.9% |
| Rank among metro and micro areas by loans | 113 of 928 |
| Median loan against the national median | 1.67x |
| Cancelled after approval, FY2017 to FY2024 approvals (a floor) | 11.3% |
|---|---|
| The same, counting loans still undisbursed as cancelled (a ceiling) | 12.9% |
| Charged off to date, FY2017 to FY2021 disbursed loans (a floor) | 3.1% |
| Charged off within five years of approval | 1.6% |
| Loans in that cohort | 319 |
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 Wilmington, NC Metro Area, by fiscal year
| Fiscal year | Loans | Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| FY2017 | 81 | $52.3 million |
| FY2018 | 63 | $36.4 million |
| FY2019 | 71 | $38.6 million |
| FY2020 | 68 | $42.0 million |
| FY2021 | 84 | $83.0 million |
| FY2022 | 69 | $49.2 million |
| FY2023 | 88 | $53.1 million |
| FY2024 | 102 | $79.7 million |
| FY2025 | 115 | $92.4 million |
| FY2026 | 89 | $59.7 million |
| Asset class | Loans |
|---|---|
| Not in any of the 39 asset classes | 547 |
| Full-service restaurant | 67 |
| Limited-service restaurant | 33 |
| Dental office | 21 |
| Fitness center | 19 |
| Self storage | 14 |
| Hotel and motel | 14 |
| Automotive mechanical repair (car and truck) | 13 |
| Beauty salon | 12 |
| Veterinary clinic | 11 |
| Coffee shop and snack bar | 11 |
| Beverage manufacturing (breweries, wineries, distilleries) | 10 |
| Rehabilitation and therapy clinic | 10 |
| Medical office (physicians) | 10 |
| Child care center | 10 |
| Car wash | 8 |
Classes with 5 or more loans; smaller ones are withheld, and more where a small one could be derived.
| Lender | Loans | Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| Business Expansion Funding Corporation | 34 | $31.4 million |
| Carolina Business Capital, Inc. | 7 | $8.1 million |
| Lender | Loans | Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| Live Oak Banking Company | 118 | $115.6 million |
| First Bank (NC) | 43 | $35.2 million |
| Wells Fargo Bank National Association | 42 | $7.9 million |
| TD Bank, National Association | 39 | $13.4 million |
| Truist Bank | 36 | $16.7 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 |
|---|---|
| New Hanover County, NC | 578 |
| Brunswick County, NC | 168 |
| Pender County, NC | 84 |
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-48900.
A worked example of the feasibility study a lender would read for a hotel project in North Carolina, financed with a conventional bank loan.
Loan Analytics prepares the feasibility study a lender reads before it commits: for a commercial project in the Wilmington, 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.
Start with the data.
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