2008 permits
Toronto building permits from 2008: 4,987 are still open
Of the building permits Toronto issued in 2008, 4,987 remained in the City’s active permit register, and half of them have been open for at least 6,600 days (about 18 years).
This is not annual permit volume. The 2008 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
4,987
Median time open
6,600 d
Median value
$50,000
Total value
$1,822,991,191
Value figures cover the 2,453 of 4,987 still-open 2008 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 2008 permits are at
161 of them (3.2%) show no sign of work having begun: the permit was issued and the file has not moved past that point.
| Status | Permits | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Inspection | 4,337 | 87.0% |
| Revision Issued | 482 | 9.7% |
| Permit Issued | 106 | 2.1% |
| Work Not Started | 55 | 1.1% |
| Revocation Pending | 7 | 0.1% |
Still-open 2008 permits by trade
| Trade | Permits | Total value |
|---|---|---|
| Addition | 1,209 | $136,530,561 |
| Interior alteration | 852 | $264,971,192 |
| Plumbing | 819 | $8,317,155 |
| HVAC | 692 | $40,424,000 |
| New build | 474 | $1,201,872,253 |
| Deck | 301 | $12,403,500 |
| Other / unclassified | 267 | $25,059,520 |
| Roofing | 140 | $52,379,440 |
| Demolition | 103 | $58,583,800 |
| Window / Door | 103 | $6,284,854 |
| Pool | 22 | $3,790,000 |
| Electrical | 5 | $12,374,917 |
Neighbourhoods with the most open 2008 permits
| Rank | Neighbourhood | Open permits | Total value |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stonegate-Queensway | 209 | $13,220,100 |
| 2 | Rosedale-Moore Park | 143 | $9,528,391 |
| 3 | Bedford Park-Nortown | 140 | $16,503,062 |
| 4 | Yonge-Bay Corridor | 135 | $130,973,245 |
| 5 | O'Connor-Parkview | 126 | $6,877,000 |
| 6 | West Humber-Clairville | 125 | $25,857,500 |
| 7 | South Riverdale | 116 | $83,679,200 |
| 8 | High Park-Swansea | 93 | $5,644,600 |
| 9 | Annex | 91 | $8,547,270 |
| 10 | Leaside-Bennington | 85 | $6,223,600 |
| 11 | North Riverdale | 80 | $1,712,000 |
| 12 | Palmerston-Little Italy | 75 | $14,187,000 |
| 13 | Kensington-Chinatown | 74 | $127,434,516 |
| 14 | Runnymede-Bloor West Village | 74 | $2,094,070 |
| 15 | The Beaches | 72 | $6,956,000 |
| 16 | Mimico-Queensway | 72 | $10,171,289 |
| 17 | Edenbridge-Humber Valley | 71 | $10,704,000 |
| 18 | Lawrence Park South | 65 | $6,231,300 |
| 19 | Islington | 63 | $3,766,600 |
| 20 | Humewood-Cedarvale | 62 | $4,982,300 |
Top 20 neighbourhoods by open-permit count. Areas outside this list still have open 2008 permits.
Largest 2008 projects still open
The highest-value permits from 2008 that have not closed out, ranked by estimated construction cost.
| Address | Work | Status | Open | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 York St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 6,664 d | $325,000,000 |
| 200 Front St W, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 6,509 d | $200,000,000 |
| 209 Victoria St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 6,764 d | $97,000,000 |
| 550 University Ave, Toronto, ON | Multiple Projects | Inspection | 6,603 d | $87,913,016 |
| 70 Birmingham St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 6,757 d | $65,000,000 |
| 40 King St W, Toronto, ON | Multiple Projects | Work Not Started | 6,756 d | $50,000,000 |
| 33 Bay St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 6,762 d | $40,000,000 |
| 4 A Spadina Ave, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 6,616 d | $40,000,000 |
| 201 Carlaw Ave, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 6,426 d | $40,000,000 |
| 510 St Clair Ave W, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 6,530 d | $35,000,000 |
| 1042-1048 Broadview Ave, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 6,526 d | $35,000,000 |
| 1070 Sheppard Ave W, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 6,420 d | $31,520,000 |
| 5793 Yonge St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 6,426 d | $26,000,000 |
| 519 Dundas St W, Toronto, ON | Other(BA) | Inspection | 6,736 d | $25,000,000 |
| 60 Queen St W, Toronto, ON | Multiple Projects | Inspection | 6,691 d | $25,000,000 |
| 20 Gothic Ave, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 6,561 d | $25,000,000 |
| 27 Rean Dr, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 6,460 d | $24,000,000 |
| 825 Dundas St E, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 6,491 d | $23,000,000 |
| 65 Lillian St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 6,462 d | $22,500,000 |
| 872 Sheppard Ave W, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 6,474 d | $20,500,000 |
| 5793 Yonge St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 6,426 d | $20,290,000 |
| 4600 Bathurst St, Toronto, ON | Addition(s) | Inspection | 6,649 d | $15,000,000 |
| 1 Dundas St W, Toronto, ON | Change of Use | Inspection | 6,540 d | $13,500,000 |
| 825 Dundas St E, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 6,702 d | $9,000,000 |
| 2603 Bathurst St, Toronto, ON | Interior Alterations | Inspection | 6,575 d | $9,000,000 |
“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 2008 are still open?
- 4,987 permits issued in Toronto during 2008 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 2008. 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 2008 permits been open?
- Half of the 4,987 still-open permits from 2008 have been open for at least 6,600 days (about 18 years), measured from issue date to Jul 23, 2026. One in ten has been open longer than 6,733 days (about 18 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 2008 Toronto permits were never started?
- 161 of the 4,987 surviving 2008 permits (3.2%) 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 2008 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 2008 to another year measures elapsed time rather than construction activity. Use the status and trade breakdowns within 2008 instead.