2009 permits
Toronto building permits from 2009: 4,346 are still open
Of the building permits Toronto issued in 2009, 4,346 remained in the City’s active permit register, and half of them have been open for at least 6,189 days (about 16 years).
This is not annual permit volume. The 2009 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
4,346
Median time open
6,189 d
Median value
$40,000
Total value
$1,981,927,984
Value figures cover the 2,290 of 4,346 still-open 2009 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 2009 permits are at
193 of them (4.4%) show no sign of work having begun: the permit was issued and the file has not moved past that point.
| Status | Permits | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Inspection | 3,738 | 86.0% |
| Revision Issued | 405 | 9.3% |
| Permit Issued | 148 | 3.4% |
| Work Not Started | 45 | 1.0% |
| Revocation Pending | 10 | 0.2% |
Still-open 2009 permits by trade
| Trade | Permits | Total value |
|---|---|---|
| Addition | 899 | $150,347,445 |
| Plumbing | 836 | $6,767,479 |
| Interior alteration | 739 | $216,532,644 |
| HVAC | 595 | $49,740,826 |
| New build | 389 | $1,448,152,010 |
| Deck | 293 | $19,717,016 |
| Other / unclassified | 281 | $20,895,076 |
| Roofing | 110 | $37,142,390 |
| Demolition | 108 | $22,421,000 |
| Window / Door | 84 | $5,605,600 |
| Pool | 11 | $4,406,500 |
| Electrical | 1 | $200,000 |
Neighbourhoods with the most open 2009 permits
| Rank | Neighbourhood | Open permits | Total value |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Humber-Clairville | 133 | $19,887,205 |
| 2 | Yonge-Bay Corridor | 111 | $275,127,000 |
| 3 | South Riverdale | 102 | $56,674,650 |
| 4 | Bedford Park-Nortown | 97 | $16,302,998 |
| 5 | Rosedale-Moore Park | 82 | $3,731,601 |
| 6 | High Park-Swansea | 75 | $5,416,200 |
| 7 | Kensington-Chinatown | 70 | $94,852,674 |
| 8 | Stonegate-Queensway | 69 | $6,901,800 |
| 9 | Leaside-Bennington | 65 | $11,377,200 |
| 10 | Regent Park | 62 | $19,325,500 |
| 11 | O'Connor-Parkview | 61 | $1,917,500 |
| 12 | Annex | 60 | $6,907,500 |
| 13 | Etobicoke City Centre | 59 | $5,495,700 |
| 14 | Danforth East York | 59 | $1,384,600 |
| 15 | Lawrence Park South | 55 | $3,133,500 |
| 16 | North Riverdale | 55 | $1,963,100 |
| 17 | Wellington Place | 52 | $313,061,500 |
| 18 | Runnymede-Bloor West Village | 52 | $1,300,900 |
| 19 | Morningside Heights | 52 | $245,000 |
| 20 | Greenwood-Coxwell | 50 | $3,125,000 |
Top 20 neighbourhoods by open-permit count. Areas outside this list still have open 2009 permits.
Largest 2009 projects still open
The highest-value permits from 2009 that have not closed out, ranked by estimated construction cost.
| Address | Work | Status | Open | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 661 University Ave, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 6,352 d | $200,000,000 |
| 175 Wellington St W, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 6,244 d | $180,000,000 |
| 70 Roehampton Ave, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 6,280 d | $150,000,000 |
| 28 Fort York Blvd, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 6,243 d | $100,000,000 |
| 326 King St W, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 6,082 d | $78,000,000 |
| 450 Lake Shore Blvd W, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 6,316 d | $75,000,000 |
| 25 Buchan Crt, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 6,077 d | $72,100,000 |
| 223 Fort York Blvd, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 6,132 d | $70,000,000 |
| 600 University Ave, Toronto, ON | Interior Alterations | Inspection | 6,070 d | $60,000,000 |
| 1755 Steeles Ave W, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 6,349 d | $50,000,000 |
| 21 Nelson St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 6,317 d | $50,000,000 |
| 770 Bay St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 6,048 d | $42,000,000 |
| 60 Heintzman St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 6,100 d | $40,000,000 |
| 1135 Royal York Rd, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 6,069 d | $38,000,000 |
| 25 Buchan Crt, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 6,077 d | $37,300,000 |
| 777 Victoria Park Ave, Toronto, ON | Multiple Projects | Inspection | 6,243 d | $36,000,000 |
| 18 Brownlow Ave, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 6,246 d | $35,000,000 |
| 1 Ibms Old Ward 06, Toronto, ON | New Building | Permit Issued | 6,350 d | $32,000,000 |
| 19 Rean Dr, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 6,308 d | $29,600,000 |
| 1313 Lake Shore Blvd E, Toronto, ON | Interior Alterations | Inspection | 6,138 d | $29,000,000 |
| 15 York St, Toronto, ON | Interior Alterations | Inspection | 6,309 d | $20,000,000 |
| 700 University Ave, Toronto, ON | Interior Alterations | Inspection | 6,070 d | $20,000,000 |
| 23 Rean Dr, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 6,292 d | $15,100,000 |
| 150 Gerrard St W, Toronto, ON | Interior Alterations | Inspection | 6,350 d | $15,000,000 |
| 450 Bremner Blvd, Toronto, ON | Other(BA) | Inspection | 6,097 d | $15,000,000 |
“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 2009 are still open?
- 4,346 permits issued in Toronto during 2009 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 2009. 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 2009 permits been open?
- Half of the 4,346 still-open permits from 2009 have been open for at least 6,189 days (about 16 years), measured from issue date to Jul 23, 2026. One in ten has been open longer than 6,359 days (about 17 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 2009 Toronto permits were never started?
- 193 of the 4,346 surviving 2009 permits (4.4%) 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 2009 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 2009 to another year measures elapsed time rather than construction activity. Use the status and trade breakdowns within 2009 instead.