Panama City Beach is a city in Bay County, Florida, United States, on the Gulf of Mexico coast. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 12,018. The city is often referred to under the umbrella term of "Panama City", despite being a distinct municipality from the older and larger inland Panama City to the east, making Panama City and Panama City Beach two separate cities. Panama City Beach's slogan is "The World's Most Beautiful Beaches" due to the unique sugar-white sandy beaches of northwest Florida.
Panama City Beach has been a popular vacation destination, especially among people in the Southern United States. The city is also a very popular spring break destination, sometimes having been referred to as "The Spring Break Capital of the World," due to about 100,000+ college and high school students who would arrive during the months of March and April.
The city's semi-official history - A History of Panama City, put out by the Panama City Public Library - gives an account of how it gained its name: The original name of the town was Harrison. Its developer, George Mortimer West, gave the town its present name because it was on a direct line between Chicago and Panama City, Panama, in Central America. The name change took place during the building of the Panama Canal, as a way to link the area to an ongoing media interest, in hopes of promoting real estate development in Bay County.
Real Estate Boom
A construction boom in the early to mid 2000s changed the image of the area due to the older homes and motels, as high-rise condominiums and more expansive homes replaced the older structures. However, this is turning unobstructed, low-rise beach views and affordable waterfront property into rarities. At the peak of the real estate boom, many beachfront properties had quadrupled or more in value since 2000.
In November 2006 CNN/Money named Panama City Beach the No. 1 real estate market in America for the next five years in.[5] Beachfront property has sold for upwards of $60,000 per "front foot" (linear foot) at the top of the market. The downturn in the U.S. real estate market in 2007, combined with a surge of new condo construction, brought spiraling prices somewhat under control. With the real estate boom, Panama City Beach became a well known destination for Spring Break.
