The 14,277 small and mid-sized businesses that changed hands in the state last year represent a 34% decline from 21,689 sales recorded in 2008, and a count of last month’s deals, 1,193, also shows a 34% drop when compared to the 1,804 closed escrows in December 2008.
While disappointing, these results are certainly consistent with our expectations, considering the difficulty buyers have been experiencing when trying to tap business banks for the loans needed to complete their purchases. Uncertainty in light of the lagging economy also has contributed to the reduced activity. Many would-be buyers and sellers have chosen to “wait out’ the market in hopes things will soon improve.
Some growth in sales activity in December (1,193), compared to November’s 954 transactions, might be a sign that the market for small businesses is becoming more robust. But anyone who has watched the ups and downs, month to month in 2009, realizes it’s too early to call this movement a trend.
All of the largest counties in the state registered a drop in small and mid-sized business sales volume in the year just past. Los Angeles County saw its market slip to 3,769 deals in 2009 from the 5,533 count in 2008. The 38% decline in San Francisco was from 822 to 502, and the slide in San Diego County was more than 40% to 1,401 from the 2,422 figure registered in 2008. Orange County’s 41% fall-off in activity, 2,274 to 1,336, was exceeded by a 54% dive in Riverside County, where the 2009 transaction total of 308 contrasts with the 676 deals closed in 2008.
A breakdown of 2009
sales stats pages by county is provided and updated regularly.
Posted on January 6, 2010 | 
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