Small Business Acquisitions Grow, Sale Prices Decline: Buyer-Seller Confidence Wavers Amid Tariffs and Economic Uncertainty
- Business buying intensifies; 40% of buyers are corporate refugees amid slowing job market
- Transactions grow 8% year-over-year, driven by surge in Service and Retail sectors
- Median sale price decline 2%, reflecting weaker financial performance
- Uncertainty around 2026 outlook influences buyer and seller timelines
Business-for-sale transaction volume accelerated in the third quarter of 2025, with closed deals reaching 2,599, an 8% increase from Q3 2024 and up 11% compared to Q2 2025. This is according to BizBuySell, which tracks and analyzes U.S. business-for-sale transactions and sentiment from business owners, buyers, and brokers. The total enterprise value of completed deals hit $2.13 billion, marking gains of 5% year-over-year and 12% quarter-over-quarter.
Despite the uptick in activity, underlying concerns about the future appear to be weighing on business owners specifically. BizBuySell’s annual Buyer-Seller Confidence Index, which measures sentiment on a scale of 0–100, shows owner confidence declined from 50 to 48, falling below the neutral threshold.
Click on the Thumbnail for the Full Article