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SBA 504 Loan Interest Rate Report: March 2016

Mar 2016

The interest rate for 20-year Small Business Administration (SBA) 504 loans that funded in March saw an uptick following last month's dramatic 51 basis point drop, but still remains in the mid 4% range to the continued advantage of small business borrowers.

Frank Keane, fiscal and selling agent for Eagle Compliance, LLC - the entity responsible for marketing, pricing and selling SBA 504 Loan Program funding securities - comments about market conditions, additional Federal Reserve rate hikes and the effect on future 504 loan interest rates.

504 loans are funded by the sale of bonds (aka debentures) which are pooled and sold on Wall Street each month (see Understanding the 504 Loan Interest Rate).

The bonds that funded this month's 20-year 504 loans were sold to investors at 2.50%, marking the 22nd month in a row the bond rate has remained below 3%. This resulted in a final effective interest rate (the all-in cost to a borrower) of 4.55% for March (up from 4.32% in February).

For 10-year 504 loans (which are set bimonthly), the bonds were sold at 1.84% resulting in a final effective interest rate of 4.33% for March/April.

Frank Keane, fiscal and selling agent for 504 funding securities, commented following the March 20-year bond sale:

“European Central Bank (ECB) stimulus revives ‘risk-on' trades. Faced with the persistent threat of deflation, the European Central Bank again cut its main interest rates from -.30% to -.40%, while the Federal Reserve Bank's rate is +0.50%.

“The ECB's announcement helped stocks close higher for the fourth consecutive week and that is what encouraged investors to increase their risk appetite which ended (temporarily?) the ‘safe haven' trade for Treasuries.

“The benchmark Treasury used for pricing March's 20-year debentures rose 30 bps from the February sale date, and then another 7 bps into the week end. That move widened the yield difference between U.S. Treasuries and European sovereign debt which had rallied after (the) ECB announcement.

“The week ahead … will be focused on the Federal Open Market Committee meeting that begins Tuesday (March 22) and ends with Wednesday afternoon's policy announcement (March 23). Even with recent job growth, it is not expected that a (Fed) rate increase will be announced,” Keane said.

The SBA 504 Loan Program provides up to 90% below-market, fixed interest rate financing with repayment terms up to 20 years for the purchase of commercial real estate and/or fixed heavy duty machinery and equipment.

504 loans are paired with private-sector commercial loans and provide up to $5 million for standard and public policy projects (aggregate limit) and up to $5.5 million per green initiative and small manufacturer projects. These are SBA 2nd mortgage loan portions only; there is no limit on overall project dollar size.

For more information about SBA 504 loans in Florida,contact a Florida First Capital Loan Officeror email us atinfo@ffcfc.com. Phone: 850.681.3601 or toll-free at 888.320.5504.