2015 permits
Toronto building permits from 2015: 7,070 are still open
Of the building permits Toronto issued in 2015, 7,070 remained in the City’s active permit register, and half of them have been open for at least 4,028 days (about 11 years).
This is not annual permit volume. The 2015 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
7,070
Median time open
4,028 d
Median value
$50,000
Total value
$3,544,711,161
Value figures cover the 3,613 of 7,070 still-open 2015 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 2015 permits are at
1,208 of them (17.1%) show no sign of work having begun: the permit was issued and the file has not moved past that point.
| Status | Permits | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Inspection | 4,933 | 69.8% |
| Permit Issued | 1,169 | 16.5% |
| Revision Issued | 718 | 10.2% |
| Revocation Pending | 210 | 3.0% |
| Work Not Started | 39 | 0.6% |
| Work Suspended | 1 | 0.0% |
Still-open 2015 permits by trade
| Trade | Permits | Total value |
|---|---|---|
| Plumbing | 1,473 | $44,476,007 |
| Interior alteration | 1,349 | $471,965,826 |
| Addition | 1,295 | $216,131,800 |
| HVAC | 895 | $24,809,511 |
| New build | 773 | $2,368,851,314 |
| Other / unclassified | 412 | $30,043,593 |
| Deck | 344 | $29,509,381 |
| Roofing | 190 | $56,139,337 |
| Window / Door | 161 | $28,166,348 |
| Demolition | 143 | $201,458,837 |
| Pool | 27 | $71,947,000 |
| Electrical | 8 | $1,212,207 |
Neighbourhoods with the most open 2015 permits
| Rank | Neighbourhood | Open permits | Total value |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yonge-Bay Corridor | 225 | $50,916,195 |
| 2 | Kensington-Chinatown | 219 | $71,375,500 |
| 3 | South Riverdale | 196 | $105,025,500 |
| 4 | West Humber-Clairville | 166 | $20,050,749 |
| 5 | Etobicoke City Centre | 155 | $67,815,665 |
| 6 | High Park-Swansea | 130 | $5,936,750 |
| 7 | Wellington Place | 127 | $105,379,290 |
| 8 | Annex | 124 | $30,021,107 |
| 9 | Rosedale-Moore Park | 120 | $17,408,260 |
| 10 | Stonegate-Queensway | 109 | $11,980,000 |
| 11 | Yorkdale-Glen Park | 105 | $38,567,152 |
| 12 | Roncesvalles | 99 | $19,413,700 |
| 13 | Wexford/Maryvale | 95 | $3,889,000 |
| 14 | York University Heights | 93 | $23,696,770 |
| 15 | West Hill | 92 | $15,712,383 |
| 16 | Birchcliffe-Cliffside | 88 | $6,356,125 |
| 17 | Downtown Yonge East | 84 | $68,544,753 |
| 18 | Lawrence Park South | 78 | $8,211,900 |
| 19 | Junction Area | 78 | $5,179,000 |
| 20 | The Beaches | 78 | $4,541,000 |
Top 20 neighbourhoods by open-permit count. Areas outside this list still have open 2015 permits.
Largest 2015 projects still open
The highest-value permits from 2015 that have not closed out, ranked by estimated construction cost.
| Address | Work | Status | Open | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1201 Wilson Ave, Toronto, ON | New Building | Permit Issued | 4,112 d | $765,000,000 |
| 90 Harbour St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 3,993 d | $250,000,000 |
| 85 Eglinton Ave E, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 3,866 d | $178,000,000 |
| 511 Bremner Blvd, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 4,110 d | $128,000,000 |
| 2 Strachan Ave, Toronto, ON | Multiple Projects | Inspection | 4,097 d | $105,000,000 |
| 2 Lisgar St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 4,144 d | $100,000,000 |
| 955 Bay St, Toronto, ON | Other(BA) | Inspection | 3,874 d | $100,000,000 |
| 55 Ann O'Reilly Rd, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 4,123 d | $97,000,000 |
| 30 Roehampton Ave, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 4,118 d | $95,000,000 |
| 621 King St W, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 3,908 d | $67,000,000 |
| 345 Carlaw Ave, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 4,207 d | $60,000,000 |
| 1000 Bay St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 4,038 d | $60,000,000 |
| 11 Peel Ave, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 3,996 d | $60,000,000 |
| 61 Front St W, Toronto, ON | Multiple Projects | Inspection | 4,178 d | $50,000,000 |
| 9 Valhalla Inn Rd, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 4,011 d | $50,000,000 |
| 252 Victoria St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 3,986 d | $49,970,000 |
| 571 Jarvis St, Toronto, ON | Multiple Projects | Inspection | 3,887 d | $36,000,000 |
| 434 Adelaide St W, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 4,006 d | $30,000,000 |
| 20 Gladstone Ave, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 3,942 d | $30,000,000 |
| 130 Dunn Ave, Toronto, ON | Interior Alterations | Inspection | 3,944 d | $29,000,000 |
| 777 Dundas St E, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 4,178 d | $26,000,000 |
| 15 Beverley St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 4,049 d | $25,000,000 |
| 301 St Clair Ave W, Toronto, ON | Multiple Projects | Permit Issued | 3,908 d | $25,000,000 |
| 68 Merton St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 4,017 d | $24,446,600 |
| 298 Lonsdale Rd, Toronto, ON | Multiple Projects | Inspection | 3,943 d | $24,000,000 |
“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 2015 are still open?
- 7,070 permits issued in Toronto during 2015 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 2015. 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 2015 permits been open?
- Half of the 7,070 still-open permits from 2015 have been open for at least 4,028 days (about 11 years), measured from issue date to Jul 23, 2026. One in ten has been open longer than 4,173 days (about 11 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 2015 Toronto permits were never started?
- 1,208 of the 7,070 surviving 2015 permits (17.1%) 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 2015 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 2015 to another year measures elapsed time rather than construction activity. Use the status and trade breakdowns within 2015 instead.