First, we will note that the Community Reinvestment Act was signed into law on October 12, 1977, 48 years ago.
It appears that the Government shutdown is affecting data releases from the SBA. Consequently, we don’t have updated data on 504 loan originations for September. Year-to-date origination volumes were up 15.1% as of August 31, 2025, compared to the prior fiscal year. Originations in the SBA’s other major loan program, SBA 7(a) loans, were up 19.6% compared to the prior fiscal year through the same date.
Gross charge-off rates for the SBA 504 program have traditionally been very low, as seen in the graph above right. Since FY2017, charge-off rates for the CDC/SBA portion of the 504 program, representing the second lien holder, have been 0.40% per year or lower. The limited information available of the private lender, first lien portion of the program shows that charge-off rates are typically even lower, although spikes in several years have pushed the rate above the second lien portion a few times.
While SBA origination data has not been updated for a month, we thought we‘d highlight some data from last month that we did not focus on previously. The majority of SBA 504 loans have traditionally gone to male-owned business. Though significant improvement has been made in recent years, the share of 504 loans going to businesses owned by women declined in FY2024 before rebounding some in FY2025. Through August 31, 2025, the share of 504 loan recipients that have more than 50% female ownership rose to 11.4% from 10.9% last year, while the share of 504 loan originations that have gone to business with less than 50% female ownership grew to 17.9% from 17.2%.
