BizBuySell released its Insight Report for 2025 (admittedly a while ago).
The TLDR is that Main Street M&A deal activity remains steady, but a few takeaways worth noting:
Deal Volume Holding Firm
Main Street transactions were essentially flat year-on-year, with 9,586 closed deals in 2025 versus 9,546 in 2024. There was an unseasonal uptick in Q3 (+8% vs Q2) perhaps partly driven by concerns about a potential Q4 government and SBA shutdown.
Valuations Resilient
Median valuations in Q4 2025 held at 2.26x SDE, up slightly from 2.21x in Q4 2024 (2024 full-year mean: 2.57x). This is despite meaningful changes in macroeconomic conditions and trade policy.
Optimism for 2026
The outlook for 2026 appears positive. The majority of business brokers surveyed anticipated stronger activity from both business owners and buyers for the year, with marginally higher expectations on the supply (business owner) side.
For business owners, the best time to sell remains ‘when you’re ready’. I wrote more about this in a previous article.