Survey of Equipment Finance Activity Reports 6.8% Growth in New Business Volume in 2025

Most-financed equipment types were construction, agriculture, trucks & trailers, office machines, and material handling

WASHINGTON, Oct. 15, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- New business volume (NBV) growth in the $1.3 trillion equipment finance industry increased by 6.8% in 2025, up from 3.1% in 2024, according to the 2026 Survey of Equipment Finance Activity (SEFA) released today by the Equipment Leasing & Finance Association (ELFA). The growth rate was more than double the U.S. inflation rate in 2025, despite persistent economic pressures and uncertainty.

The annual SEFA report provides the most comprehensive statistical and financial benchmarks available on the industry. Based on a comprehensive survey of nearly 100 equipment leasing and finance companies, it is a critical resource for understanding the sector’s performance and outlook.

“The 2026 Survey of Equipment Finance Activity shows the industry’s resilience with overall growth and healthy financial conditions despite ongoing economic pressures and policy uncertainty,” said ELFA Acting President and CEO James Cress. “This comprehensive report provides industry stakeholders with the data and insights they need to benchmark performance, understand market dynamics, and navigate an increasingly competitive and evolving landscape. I encourage businesses to leverage the report’s findings and put this valuable data to work to drive informed decisions and achieve greater success.”

Survey Highlights: Key Findings

The 2026 SEFA revealed several important trends from 2025:

• New business volume (NBV) at equipment finance companies grew at more than double the pace of the U.S. economy’s overall inflation rate of 2.9%. Overall, 62.4% of surveyed companies reported an increase in volume in 2025, up from 50.5% the previous year.
• Portfolios remained healthy through continued disciplined management of receivables and losses. Delinquencies were steady and still low with 98.5% reporting as current (less than 30 days) and minimal differences between banks, captives and independents. Net full-year losses, or charge-offs, also remained stable and at a low level. Gross charge-offs declined slightly to 68 basis points (bps) in 2025 from 69 bps in 2024. Net full-year losses as a percentage of average receivables decreased to 52 bps from 54 bps in 2024. Provision for bad debt declined by 9.4% overall.
• Credit approvals remained steady and overall, there was an increase in the percentage of the dollar value of credit booked and funded. This allowed for NBV to increase more than inflation.
• Profitability pressures continued with income before taxes as a percentage of total revenues decreasing to 20.8% in 2025 from 23% in 2024. Interest expense as a percentage of total revenues was 40.4% in 2025, a similar level to 40.5% in 2024. This is significantly higher than interest expense from 2016 to 2023, which ranged from 20%-30%.
• Spreads increased by 40 bps to 2.99% as pre-tax yields remained steady at 7.39% and cost of funds decreased by 41 bps to 4.40%.
• By organization type, banks saw an 8.7% NBV increase, captives’ NBV declined negligibly by 0.1%, and independents, representing a much smaller group, saw a 17.0% increase. By market segment, NBV rose 5.4% year over year in the small ticket segment, 5.3% for middle ticket and 19.9% for large ticket.
• From an asset perspective, the top five most-financed equipment types were construction, agriculture, trucks & trailers, office machines, and material handling. The top five end-user industries representing the largest share of new business volume were agriculture, construction, other services (including real estate leasing, professional services, repair services, etc.) wholesale/retail, and finance/insurance.
• Return on Average Assets (ROA) remained low at 1.2% in 2025 (similar to 1.1% in 2024), while Return on Average Equity (ROE) rose sharply to 12.0% in 2025 (from 7.9% in 2024).
• Employment levels overall declined by 1.0% in 2025 compared to 2024 as significant investments in technology to improve customer satisfaction and efficiencies have been made. Both banks and captives had their headcount decrease by 4.2% and 1.0%, respectively. Independents increased their headcount by 8.0%.
• Functions with the highest implementation rates of artificial intelligence (AI) are sales (43%) and credit underwriting (41%). Most respondents are exploring AI for billing (65%), asset management (60%), and sales and collections (both 50%).

In conjunction with the 2026 SEFA, ELFA also released the 2026 Small-Ticket SEFA, a report focused on small-ticket and micro-ticket equipment transactions among SEFA respondents. The companion report found that new business volume in the small-ticket space increased slightly by 0.6% in 2025.

Access the Data
With more than 2,000 data points, the annual SEFA is the largest and most important source of statistical information about the equipment finance industry. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP administered the SEFA in collaboration with ELFA’s Research Committee.

The 2026 SEFA data are available in a variety of formats at www.elfaonline.org/SEFA:

• Full SEFA Report: This 400+ page report offers comprehensive performance metrics for about 100 equipment finance companies.
• Interactive SEFA Dashboard: This online dashboard provides executive summary data going back to 2006.

About ELFA
The Equipment Leasing & Finance Association (ELFA) represents financial services companies and manufacturers in the $1.3 trillion U.S. equipment finance sector. ELFA’s over 600 member companies provide essential financing that helps businesses acquire the equipment they need to operate and grow. Learn how equipment finance contributes to businesses’ success, U.S. economic growth, manufacturing and jobs at www.elfaonline.org.

Media contact: Jane Esworthy, Vice President, Communications & Marketing, ELFA, jesworthy@elfaonline.org