Small business buyers are betting political uncertainty won’t last.
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A strong market for small-business sales cut through the noise of the Trump administration’s tariffs during the third quarter of this year. Buyers pushed ahead while many owners chose to cash out before more political surprises–including the current government shutdown– could throw a wrench in the market.
According to BizBuySell, an online marketplace that tracks U.S. business sales, closed transactions rose 8% year-over-year and 11% from the prior quarter. Buyers are acting fast: The typical business sold in just 149 days, the shortest turnaround since 2017 and down from 176 days the quarter before. Yet prices slipped. The median sale price fell 2% from a year earlier and 9% from Q2 to $320,000. Sellers may be lowering expectations to move before conditions worsen. Owners cite higher costs from tariffs and inflation, with more than half reporting that trade policy has increased expenses.
The fourth quarter is likely to be a different story when it comes to sales volume. The trade fight with China is heating up again, fueling uncertainty, and the government shutdown has frozen approval of loans backed by the Small Business Administration, which fuel many small-business deals.
The rush to buy shows how strong the appetite for ownership remains. Many buyers are “corporate refugees”—that is, mid-career professionals who want control over their work. Forty percent of buyers fall into that group. For them, economic uncertainty is less a deterrent than motivation.
Service and retail businesses led the market. Acquisitions of service companies rose 11% year-over-year; retail deals were up by 14%. Buyers focused on practical, recurring-demand sectors like HVAC, plumbing, and landscaping.
Manufacturing told a different story. Transactions there fell 11%, and the median sale price plunged 37% to $550,000. The drag reflects the very tariffs and trade volatility that define the broader economy. Many deals have been delayed as buyers and sellers try to price the risk.
That slump comes despite the Trump administration’s new Made in America Manufacturing Initiative, announced in March 2025. The Small Business Administration (SBA) said the plan will cut $100 billion in regulation, expand access to 7(a) and 504 loan programs, and back the president’s push to reshore production. The program launched a new Office of Manufacturing and promised – later delivered in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed on July 4 – 100% expensing, a tax break letting smaller manufacturers deduct the full cost of new U.S. equipment right away (instead of spreading the deduction over multiple years) retroactive to January 20, 2025. For now, though, that support hasn’t yet translated into deal flow.
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