2003 permits
Toronto building permits from 2003: 3,123 are still open
Of the building permits Toronto issued in 2003, 3,123 remained in the City’s active permit register, and half of them have been open for at least 8,403 days (about 23 years).
This is not annual permit volume. The 2003 figures on this page count permits that are still openin the City of Toronto’s active permit register today. Permits drop out of that register once they close, so older years show fewer surviving records the further back you go. Toronto issues roughly 30,000 to 40,000 permits a year; the counts here are the unclosed remainder, and they cannot be compared between years as a trend.
Still open
3,123
Median time open
8,403 d
Median value
$40,000
Total value
$1,137,574,238
Value figures cover the 1,646 of 3,123 still-open 2003 permits that disclose an estimated construction cost. Medians, not averages: the cost distribution has a long tail and an average would overstate the typical permit.
What stage the 2003 permits are at
360 of them (11.5%) show no sign of work having begun: the permit was issued and the file has not moved past that point.
| Status | Permits | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Inspection | 2,754 | 88.2% |
| Permit Issued | 357 | 11.4% |
| Plan Review Complete | 5 | 0.2% |
| VIOLATION | 3 | 0.1% |
| Work Not Started | 3 | 0.1% |
| Pending Cancellation | 1 | 0.0% |
Still-open 2003 permits by trade
| Trade | Permits | Total value |
|---|---|---|
| Addition | 860 | $207,244,630 |
| New build | 590 | $724,063,219 |
| Plumbing | 437 | $1,779,700 |
| Interior alteration | 425 | $141,363,659 |
| HVAC | 277 | $3,347,800 |
| Other / unclassified | 219 | $5,441,309 |
| Deck | 156 | $4,705,217 |
| Roofing | 57 | $3,721,150 |
| Demolition | 52 | $42,032,195 |
| Window / Door | 42 | $2,521,400 |
| Pool | 7 | $1,333,960 |
| Electrical | 1 | $20,000 |
Neighbourhoods with the most open 2003 permits
| Rank | Neighbourhood | Open permits | Total value |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bedford Park-Nortown | 119 | $14,458,585 |
| 2 | South Riverdale | 88 | $1,652,550 |
| 3 | High Park-Swansea | 83 | $3,255,000 |
| 4 | Danforth East York | 77 | $1,107,500 |
| 5 | Rosedale-Moore Park | 72 | $5,943,021 |
| 6 | Stonegate-Queensway | 63 | $5,247,000 |
| 7 | North Riverdale | 63 | $1,446,000 |
| 8 | The Beaches | 62 | $1,560,822 |
| 9 | Old East York | 61 | $882,017 |
| 10 | Lawrence Park South | 57 | $3,229,000 |
| 11 | Banbury-Don Mills | 56 | $6,990,544 |
| 12 | Edenbridge-Humber Valley | 51 | $3,191,937 |
| 13 | Yonge-Bay Corridor | 50 | $182,388,500 |
| 14 | Runnymede-Bloor West Village | 50 | $4,232,000 |
| 15 | Englemount-Lawrence | 49 | $3,631,530 |
| 16 | Leaside-Bennington | 49 | $3,869,100 |
| 17 | Yonge-Eglinton | 47 | $9,195,400 |
| 18 | Palmerston-Little Italy | 45 | $648,000 |
| 19 | Islington | 45 | $2,551,000 |
| 20 | Etobicoke City Centre | 43 | $8,887,000 |
Top 20 neighbourhoods by open-permit count. Areas outside this list still have open 2003 permits.
Largest 2003 projects still open
The highest-value permits from 2003 that have not closed out, ranked by estimated construction cost.
| Address | Work | Status | Open | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 King St W, Toronto, ON | Addition/Alteration to Existing Building | Inspection | 8,554 d | $80,000,000 |
| 4968-4978 Yonge St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 8,364 d | $70,900,000 |
| 1 Ibms North York, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 8,288 d | $63,378,000 |
| 325 Bremner Blvd, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 8,288 d | $58,000,000 |
| 325 Bremner Blvd, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 8,288 d | $58,000,000 |
| 101 College St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 8,268 d | $50,000,000 |
| 637 Lake Shore Blvd W, Toronto, ON | Multiple Projects | Inspection | 8,277 d | $46,000,000 |
| 80 Harrison Garden Blvd, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 8,458 d | $40,000,000 |
| 8 York St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 8,301 d | $35,000,000 |
| 220 Elizabeth St, Toronto, ON | Interior Alterations | Inspection | 8,387 d | $33,000,000 |
| 60 Byng Ave, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 8,429 d | $30,800,000 |
| 130 Dunn Ave, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 8,584 d | $25,000,000 |
| 100 Mc Caul St, Toronto, ON | Multiple Projects | Inspection | 8,371 d | $23,000,000 |
| 321 Bloor St W, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 8,576 d | $22,000,000 |
| 210 Victoria St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 8,410 d | $22,000,000 |
| 85 Bloor St E, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 8,483 d | $21,000,000 |
| 140 Simcoe St, Toronto, ON | New Building | VIOLATION | 8,450 d | $20,000,000 |
| 354 Wellington St W, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 8,333 d | $20,000,000 |
| 60 Rowena Dr, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 8,269 d | $19,000,000 |
| 1750 Finch Ave E, Toronto, ON | Interior Alterations | Permit Issued | 8,583 d | $14,000,000 |
| 1019 Sheppard Ave E, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 8,416 d | $14,000,000 |
| 2087 Lake Shore Blvd W, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 8,317 d | $13,810,000 |
| 2245 Lawrence Ave W, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 8,291 d | $13,000,000 |
| 151 Rosemount Ave, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 8,402 d | $12,500,000 |
| 55 Gould St, Toronto, ON | Multiple Projects | Inspection | 8,248 d | $10,500,000 |
“Open” counts days from issue date to Jul 23, 2026. A permit remaining open does not by itself mean a project is abandoned; the City closes permits on final inspection, and some long-running projects are still legitimately active.
Track new Toronto permits the day they are issued. Historical pages show what is still open. Sign in free to see what was filed this morning.
Frequently asked questions
- How many Toronto building permits from 2003 are still open?
- 3,123 permits issued in Toronto during 2003 were still in the City's active permit register. This is the count of permits that have not closed out, not the number of permits Toronto issued in 2003. The City issues roughly 30,000 to 40,000 permits a year, and closed permits are removed from the published file.
- How long have Toronto's 2003 permits been open?
- Half of the 3,123 still-open permits from 2003 have been open for at least 8,403 days (about 23 years), measured from issue date to Jul 23, 2026. One in ten has been open longer than 8,543 days (about 23 years). These are permits the City has not closed out, which can mean a long-running project, a stalled one, or one that was finished without being signed off.
- How many 2003 Toronto permits were never started?
- 360 of the 3,123 surviving 2003 permits (11.5%) sit at a status indicating work has not visibly begun, such as "Permit Issued" or "Work Not Started". The approval was granted and the file shows no progression past it. The remainder are at inspection or revision stages.
- Can I compare 2003 to other years?
- No. Each year's count reflects how long its permits have had to close, so an older year showing fewer permits means more of them closed, not that less was built. Comparing 2003 to another year measures elapsed time rather than construction activity. Use the status and trade breakdowns within 2003 instead.