The total of 1,282 small and mid-sized California businesses sold last month represents an increase of 26% over the number of completed transactions posted in November last year, it was reported by the BizBen Index. The company also said the rate of business transfers so far in 2015 marks the highest year-to-date total in the past seven years.

The strong performance can be attributed mostly to recovery in the lending market. Access to funds needed to complete business purchases has slowly improved since the lending crisis of 2007 and 2008. The loan rate now seems to be normalizing.

As the economy improves, more buyers gain the confidence needed to commit to a business purchase. At the same time, business owners in the Baby Boomer generation are more active in selling out so they can retire or go on to other enterprises.

Most of the state's largest markets posted strong gains in sales last month compared to the same month a year ago. Los Angeles County business transfers were up over 21% to 338, compared to the 278 transactions completed last November. The San Diego County deal count reached 100, a 16.3% increase compared to 86 sales in November 2014. Santa Clara County recorded 58 transactions, up more than 18% from 49 deals on a November-to-November comparison.

Sales volume Increases also were recorded in Orange County posting 48% growth to 138 transactions, San Bernardino County with 81 business transfers, an increase of 15.7%, and in San Francisco recording 39 sales vs. 30 the previous November.

Smaller increases were noted in Alameda (43) and Contra Costa Counties (19), each with two more sales last month than the same month last year.

Several business sales intermediaries, financing professionals and others who serve this market have told me we can expect stronger sales activity in 2016. More people are considering business ownership as a better career choice than continuing to work as employees. And this increased demand is met with growing supply as owners throughout the state are deciding to "cash out" of their businesses.

The total business sales by county recorded last month, available at: http://www.bizben.com/stats/stats-total.php, is as follows:

Alameda: 43, Amador: 3, Butte: 18, Contra Costa: 19, El Dorado: 11, Fresno: 19, Kern: 52, Lassen: 1, Los Angeles: 338, Marin: 2, Mendocino: 3, Merced: 6, Monterey: 12, Napa: 1, Nevada: 5, Orange: 138, Placer: 30, Riverside: 45, Sacramento: 26, San Bernardino: 81, San Diego: 100, San Francisco: 39, San Joaquin: 18, San Luis Obispo: 11, San Mateo: 43, Santa Barbara: 17, Santa Clara: 58, Santa Cruz: 2, Shasta: 13, Solano: 18, Sonoma: 26, Stanislaus: 10, Sutter: 6, Tehama: 7, Tulare: 12, Tuolumne: 1, Ventura: 26, Yolo: 9, Yuba: 1

The BizBen Index has been collecting and reporting information about small California business sales for 17 years to help business owners/sellers, buyers and the professionals participating in this market make informed choices and achieve success.