2012 permits
Toronto building permits from 2012: 6,098 are still open
Of the building permits Toronto issued in 2012, 6,098 remained in the City’s active permit register, and half of them have been open for at least 5,127 days (about 14 years).
This is not annual permit volume. The 2012 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
6,098
Median time open
5,127 d
Median value
$50,000
Total value
$2,033,616,788
Value figures cover the 3,241 of 6,098 still-open 2012 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 2012 permits are at
891 of them (14.6%) show no sign of work having begun: the permit was issued and the file has not moved past that point.
| Status | Permits | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Inspection | 4,617 | 75.7% |
| Permit Issued | 871 | 14.3% |
| Revision Issued | 544 | 8.9% |
| Revocation Pending | 46 | 0.8% |
| Work Not Started | 19 | 0.3% |
| Ready for Issuance | 1 | 0.0% |
Still-open 2012 permits by trade
| Trade | Permits | Total value |
|---|---|---|
| Plumbing | 1,200 | $23,052,683 |
| Addition | 1,172 | $119,681,525 |
| Interior alteration | 1,149 | $232,711,860 |
| HVAC | 818 | $17,637,485 |
| New build | 672 | $1,525,753,803 |
| Other / unclassified | 360 | $23,367,260 |
| Deck | 305 | $19,262,788 |
| Roofing | 196 | $29,477,592 |
| Window / Door | 105 | $8,947,792 |
| Demolition | 83 | $27,277,000 |
| Pool | 29 | $4,801,000 |
| Electrical | 9 | $1,646,000 |
Neighbourhoods with the most open 2012 permits
| Rank | Neighbourhood | Open permits | Total value |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Humber-Clairville | 268 | $33,205,623 |
| 2 | Yonge-Bay Corridor | 187 | $45,991,928 |
| 3 | South Riverdale | 177 | $83,670,993 |
| 4 | Rosedale-Moore Park | 125 | $83,383,986 |
| 5 | Annex | 122 | $18,476,730 |
| 6 | Wellington Place | 114 | $329,197,800 |
| 7 | High Park-Swansea | 110 | $6,662,592 |
| 8 | Kensington-Chinatown | 105 | $59,264,600 |
| 9 | Stonegate-Queensway | 102 | $18,498,800 |
| 10 | Leaside-Bennington | 94 | $7,878,678 |
| 11 | Yorkdale-Glen Park | 94 | $21,234,838 |
| 12 | Etobicoke City Centre | 92 | $65,824,559 |
| 13 | Bedford Park-Nortown | 90 | $9,270,677 |
| 14 | Roncesvalles | 89 | $4,002,800 |
| 15 | The Beaches | 86 | $39,709,451 |
| 16 | St Lawrence-East Bayfront-The Islands | 82 | $74,510,965 |
| 17 | Palmerston-Little Italy | 82 | $11,541,000 |
| 18 | Wexford/Maryvale | 81 | $3,238,940 |
| 19 | Birchcliffe-Cliffside | 80 | $5,346,110 |
| 20 | Bridle Path-Sunnybrook-York Mills | 78 | $16,206,854 |
Top 20 neighbourhoods by open-permit count. Areas outside this list still have open 2012 permits.
Largest 2012 projects still open
The highest-value permits from 2012 that have not closed out, ranked by estimated construction cost.
| Address | Work | Status | Open | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 65 East Liberty St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 5,266 d | $161,000,000 |
| 300 Front St W, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 5,308 d | $100,000,000 |
| 510 Bremner Blvd, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 5,222 d | $100,000,000 |
| 837 Yonge St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 5,239 d | $75,000,000 |
| 2230 Lake Shore Blvd W, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 5,264 d | $70,000,000 |
| 45 Charles St E, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 5,292 d | $65,000,000 |
| 635 King St E, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 5,119 d | $65,000,000 |
| 390 Cherry St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 5,027 d | $65,000,000 |
| 352 Front St W, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 5,271 d | $60,000,000 |
| 399 Adelaide St W, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 5,295 d | $40,000,000 |
| 5740 Yonge St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 5,183 d | $40,000,000 |
| 5 Hanna Ave, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 5,047 d | $38,000,000 |
| 510 King St E, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 5,148 d | $35,000,000 |
| 430 King St W, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 5,274 d | $30,000,000 |
| 215 Sherway Gardens Rd, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 5,190 d | $30,000,000 |
| 816 Lansdowne Ave, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 5,104 d | $30,000,000 |
| 40 Dovercourt Rd, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 5,063 d | $30,000,000 |
| 812 Lansdowne Ave, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 5,104 d | $29,000,000 |
| 64 Colgate Ave, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 5,288 d | $27,000,000 |
| 205 Sherway Gardens Rd, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 5,190 d | $27,000,000 |
| 1 Valhalla Inn Rd, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 5,111 d | $27,000,000 |
| 85 The Donway W, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 5,034 d | $25,000,000 |
| 1201 Dundas St E, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 5,123 d | $20,000,000 |
| 1638 Bloor St W, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 5,064 d | $20,000,000 |
| 32 Camden St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 5,300 d | $17,200,000 |
“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 2012 are still open?
- 6,098 permits issued in Toronto during 2012 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 2012. 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 2012 permits been open?
- Half of the 6,098 still-open permits from 2012 have been open for at least 5,127 days (about 14 years), measured from issue date to Jul 23, 2026. One in ten has been open longer than 5,281 days (about 14 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 2012 Toronto permits were never started?
- 891 of the 6,098 surviving 2012 permits (14.6%) 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 2012 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 2012 to another year measures elapsed time rather than construction activity. Use the status and trade breakdowns within 2012 instead.