Sacramento County Recorded a Decline in the Number of Small and Businesses

Dublin, CA (May 5, 2010)--Sacramento County recorded a decline in the number of small and mid-market businesses that were sold last month, compared to the volume of closed escrows registered in April 2009. A total of 40 completed deals were posted for April 2010, down from the 63 sales noted the same month last year, according to figures released by BizBen.com, which compiles and reports on small business sales statistics in California on a monthly basis.

The city of Sacramento logged 28 of the deals; there were three sales each in Citrus Heights, Fair Oaks and Folsom.

(The county’s sales statistics, year to date, by city are: Carmichael: 3, Citrus Heights: 11, Elk Grove: 2, Fair Oaks: 6, Folsom: 5, Galt: 2, Sacramento: 84, Elverta: 2, North Highlands: 6, Orangevale: 2, Rancho Cordova: 2).

And the company released year-to-date figures showing a decline from the 179 businesses sold in the county during the first four months of 2009 to a total of 125 completed deals so far in 2010.

“The disappointing decline in Sacramento’s rate of sold businesses also showed up in the small business sales pattern for the rest of the state,” according to Peter Siegel, MBA, Founder and CEO of BizBen.com.

He noted that California’s count of closed escrows on small and mid-sized businesses totaled 1,095 in the just-completed month, down from the 1,768 deals recorded in April 2009.

A total of 4,334 transactions have been completed in the state so far this year, a figure lagging behind the 4,948 deals on California businesses closed during the first four months of 2009.

“As the economy stabilizes in the months ahead, we expect to see growth in small business sales activity,” said Siegel. “It means that buyers and sellers will have to regain their confidence about the stability of our business environment in the future.”

“One important element that will help fire up the market is the ability and the willingness of Congress to maintain its financial support for the SBA’s lending guarantee activities."