SmallBusinessNewz

Morale may be down, but as it turns out, the value of small businesses seems to be heading upwards.  A new study indicates that the prices owners are asking and receiving when selling their companies have increased since last year.

"The median asking price for a small business in the United States jumped to $255,000 at the end of the second quarter, a $5,000 increase relative to asking prices at this time in 2007," reports BizBuySell.

The next sentence notes, "Our sample set for Q2 2008 spans 41,674 business-for-sale listings," so they're not joking around with just a few statistically insignificant respondents, either.

Now, there is a discrepancy between asking and selling prices, and indeed, it's a rather large one.  But the important thing is that sellers aren't having to lower their sights to 2007 levels in order to strike deals.  "The median sale price for . . . the second quarter of this year was $200,000 versus $186,000 one year ago," according to BizBuySell.

That works out to a year-over-year increase of about 7.5 percent, well above both the level of inflation and the rate at which asking prices rose (2.0 percent).  All the standard warnings about regional and industry differences will apply, of course, and we're not suggesting that anyone bail out of small business.

It's always nice to know there's a real parachute on your back, though, instead of a bag full of bricks.  A hat tip for this bit of reassurance goes to Danita Blackwood.