Feasibility Study Data for the Panama City-Panama City Beach, FL Metro Area

What SBA's own loan files show about lending in the Panama City-Panama City Beach, FL Metro Area, every asset class together, and what a feasibility study for a project there has to test.

Panama City: volume, rank and loan size

For Panama City, SBA shows $190.4 million on 302 loans, FY2017 to FY2026. By loan count, Panama City stands 238 of 928 among all areas. The Panama City median loan is $324,000. Panama City loans in the middle half run $135,400 to $798,000. The Panama City median sits at 1.56x nationally. Panama City splits into 242 loans under 7(a) and 60 under 504. 20.5% of the loans in Panama City carry a franchise brand. Panama City dollars add to $190.4 million.

Panama City: asset mix and geography

Panama City class leaders by loans: full-service restaurant (19), hotel and motel (11), and medical office (11). Next in Panama City comes limited-service restaurant at 11 loans. 180 Panama City loans sit in no tracked class. Most Panama City credit is general business lending. SBA assigns Panama City loans mostly to Bay County, FL (291) and Washington County, FL (11).

Panama City: SBA holders

These Panama City tables show SBA's holders, not verdicts. Panama City lists, for 7(a), Community Bank of Mississippi (19 loans, $3.2 million) and Northeast Bank (ME) (16 loans, $3.9 million). Panama City 504 holders include Florida First Capital Finance Corporation, Inc. with 35 loans ($33.1 million). A Panama City borrower reads these rows as context. No Panama City row promises approval anywhere.

Panama City: outcome rates and data limits

13.6% is the Panama City cancellation floor for FY2017 to FY2024 approvals. Panama City withholds a ceiling: Panama City loans are too few. A rate needs more Panama City disbursed loans. Panama City charge-offs are withheld, not zero. A lender reading Panama City takes both rates as the least. Panama City history only grows. In Panama City, a county name places each loan. Panama City follows the July 2023 delineation. Panama City omits loans with no county match. Panama City totals count loans outside the tracked classes.

Panama City: testing a project

Panama City approvals were thinnest in FY2022 (19 loans, $12.0 million) and heaviest in FY2024 (47 loans, $25.8 million). FY2017 opened the Panama City series with 29 loans ($12.5 million). The latest year, FY2026, shows 35 loans and $27.0 million for Panama City. A Panama City feasibility study tests demand first, from Bay County, FL outward, not from the area average. The Panama City median is $324,000. Set Panama City budgets beside it; nationally it is 1.56x. Panama City coverage is stressed with slower ramp-up. Panama City reviewers will weigh the floors above. Panama City value is tested against cost by appraisal. Panama City comparables decide how. Absorption near Bay County, FL is tested for Panama City on a slow case. Beside Bay County, FL findings, the Panama City study lists what it could not test.

SBA loans in the Panama City-Panama City Beach, FL Metro Area

Loans approved, FY2017 to FY2026302
Gross dollars approved$190.4 million
Median loan$324,000
Middle half of loans, from$135,400
Middle half of loans, to$798,000
SBA 7(a) loans242
SBA 504 loans60
Franchise share of loans20.5%
Rank among metro and micro areas by loans238 of 928
Median loan against the national median1.56x

Cancellation and charge-off

Cancelled after approval, FY2017 to FY2024 approvals (a floor)13.6%
The same, counting loans still undisbursed as cancelled (a ceiling)withheld
Charged off to date, FY2017 to FY2021 disbursed loans (a floor)withheld

Both rates are floors. SBA withholds the status of open loans, so a loan counts as charged off only once SBA reports it; a rate needs at least 30 loans in its cohort and is otherwise not reported.

SBA loans approved in the Panama City-Panama City Beach, FL Metro Area, by fiscal year

01020304050FY2017FY2018FY2019FY2020FY2021FY2022FY2023FY2024FY2025FY2026Loans, FY2017: 29Loans, FY2018: 25Loans, FY2019: 20Loans, FY2020: 20Loans, FY2021: 30Loans, FY2022: 19Loans, FY2023: 31Loans, FY2024: 47Loans, FY2025: 46Loans, FY2026: 35
Fiscal yearLoansDollars
FY201729$12.5 million
FY201825$16.2 million
FY201920$17.6 million
FY202020$11.1 million
FY202130$18.2 million
FY202219$12.0 million
FY202331$22.0 million
FY202447$25.8 million
FY202546$27.8 million
FY202635$27.0 million

Loans by asset class

Asset classLoans
Not in any of the 39 asset classes180
Full-service restaurant19
Hotel and motel11
Medical office (physicians)11
Limited-service restaurant11
Child care center10
Gas station and truck stop7
Fitness center7
Beauty salon7
Automotive mechanical repair (car and truck)6
Coffee shop and snack bar6
Self storage5

Classes with 5 or more loans; smaller ones are withheld, and more where a small one could be derived.

Most active SBA lenders

SBA 504: lenders by loans approved (the current holder of each loan, as SBA reports it)
LenderLoansDollars
Florida First Capital Finance Corporation, Inc.35$33.1 million
SBA 7(a): lenders by loans approved (the current holder of each loan, as SBA reports it)
LenderLoansDollars
Hancock Whitney Bank22$8.5 million
The Huntington National Bank19$11.5 million
Community Bank of Mississippi19$3.2 million
Northeast Bank (ME)16$3.9 million
Live Oak Banking Company12$12.9 million

Lenders with 5 or more loans here; a lender with fewer is not listed, and loans SBA or a receiver holds are counted but never listed as a lender.

Where the loans are, by county

CountyLoans
Bay County, FL291
Washington County, FL11

Counties with 5 or more loans; smaller ones are not listed.

Metro is the CBSA (metropolitan or micropolitan statistical area) of the loan's project county, July 2023 delineation (OMB Bulletin 23-01). The county is matched by name (manifests/ld2/county-cbsa-map.csv); a loan whose county cannot be placed in a 2023 CBSA is left out of every metro.

All assets: every 7(a) and 504 approval in the metro, including those outside the 39 asset classes.

A value marked withheld rests on fewer than 5 loans, or is withheld so that such a figure cannot be derived from other published figures.

Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, 7(a) and 504 loan-level FOIA files (data.sba.gov), as of 2026-09-30; areas from the U.S. Census Bureau CBSA delineation, July 2023 (OMB Bulletin 23-01); Loan Analytics metro cell MT-37460.

Loan Analytics prepares the feasibility study a lender reads before it commits: for a commercial project in the Panama City-Panama City Beach, FL Metro Area, financed under SBA 7(a), SBA 504, USDA Business and Industry or a conventional bank loan. Tell us the project and the lender's deadline, and we reply with scope, timeline and fee.

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