U.S. firms stepped up equipment financing in January, signing new loans, leases and lines of credit that were 30.1% higher than the same month a year earlier, according to data released by the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA). The association said the total dollar value of new financing reached $11.6 billion on a seasonally adjusted basis, the largest amount recorded in the last two decades.
On a month-to-month basis, new equipment financing was up 7.8% from December. ELFA, which monitors activity in an equipment finance sector it values at more than $1 trillion, noted that bank-originated activity moved in the opposite direction, declining 11.7% from December.
The association highlighted growth in small-ticket volume, a closely watched barometer of equipment demand and broader economic conditions. Small-ticket transactions rose by $5.3 billion in January, an increase of 5.5% compared with the prior month.
ELFA’s CapEx Finance Index, which measures leasing and finance activity, is constructed from a survey of 25 member companies. The panel includes a mix of large banks and corporate financing units, among them Bank of America and the financing arms of Caterpillar, Dell Technologies, Siemens AG, Canon and Volvo AB.
Sentiment among finance professionals also moved higher. The Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation, ELFA’s non-profit affiliate, reported its confidence index at 67.6 in February, up from 64.6 in January - a reading the foundation described as the highest level since January 2025.
Reflecting on the results, ELFA President and CEO Leigh Lytle said, "It’s still early, but I’m optimistic that continued AI investment will translate into another year of strong growth in new financing activity, even if the Fed (the Federal Reserve) decides to put rate cuts on ice for the foreseeable future."
The ELFA release underscores a notable uptick in equipment finance demand across multiple financing channels, with particularly strong gains in small-ticket business that often signals wider economic appetite for capital goods. At the same time, the drop in bank-originated activity points to variation across lender types within the sector.