While transaction activity varies across regions, buyer demand, as it relates to geography, is often influenced by local factors, such as population density, impacting both consumer sales volume and access to talent, state taxation and a business-friendly environment, or warmer climates that allow for year-round selling.

Key Observations

• Transaction activity across Texas and the Midwest remains strong.

• Capital is available, but underwriting has become more disciplined.

• Valuations are shaped less by historical performance and more by forward-looking assumptions.

• This underscores the importance of a current, market-based evaluation.

Market Activity and Buyer Behavior

In 2025, our team closed 35 transactions across Texas and the Midwest, providing direct visibility into valuation trends and transaction dynamics across these markets.

Transaction activity across Texas and the Midwest remains strong. As we move further into 2026, buyers continue to pursue growth opportunities, and well-positioned dealerships are generating notable interest across the region.

Valuation and Underwriting Trends

Capital remains available, but underwriting has become more disciplined, with valuations today being shaped less by historical performance and more by forward-looking assumptions and buyer-specific criteria and growth objectives.

For dealership owners, this underscores the importance of understanding how value is being determined today, not based on past performance alone, but on future potential.

A current, market-based evaluation provides a clearer view of where a dealership stands and how it may be positioned in an increasingly selective market.

The full quarterly expands on these observations, including transaction data, market context, and insights drawn from active engagements.