2017 permits
Toronto building permits from 2017: 8,643 are still open
Of the building permits Toronto issued in 2017, 8,643 remained in the City’s active permit register, and half of them have been open for at least 3,319 days (about 9 years).
This is not annual permit volume. The 2017 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
8,643
Median time open
3,319 d
Median value
$100,000
Total value
$3,328,907,415
Value figures cover the 4,440 of 8,643 still-open 2017 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 2017 permits are at
1,474 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 | 5,923 | 68.5% |
| Permit Issued | 1,429 | 16.5% |
| Revision Issued | 870 | 10.1% |
| Revocation Pending | 375 | 4.3% |
| Work Not Started | 45 | 0.5% |
| Work Suspended | 1 | 0.0% |
Still-open 2017 permits by trade
| Trade | Permits | Total value |
|---|---|---|
| Plumbing | 1,755 | $55,727,061 |
| Interior alteration | 1,602 | $377,938,450 |
| Addition | 1,497 | $488,034,294 |
| New build | 1,152 | $1,891,684,162 |
| HVAC | 1,120 | $142,108,120 |
| Other / unclassified | 467 | $65,319,478 |
| Deck | 336 | $45,365,094 |
| Roofing | 286 | $83,793,810 |
| Window / Door | 203 | $66,686,102 |
| Demolition | 166 | $85,094,069 |
| Pool | 38 | $5,311,500 |
| Electrical | 21 | $21,845,275 |
Neighbourhoods with the most open 2017 permits
| Rank | Neighbourhood | Open permits | Total value |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Downsview | 546 | $54,114,760 |
| 2 | East L'Amoreaux | 305 | $60,906,960 |
| 3 | Yonge-Bay Corridor | 258 | $195,111,015 |
| 4 | Annex | 200 | $187,651,120 |
| 5 | West Humber-Clairville | 175 | $59,753,956 |
| 6 | South Riverdale | 174 | $10,260,458 |
| 7 | Kensington-Chinatown | 166 | $299,831,291 |
| 8 | High Park-Swansea | 139 | $23,631,699 |
| 9 | Etobicoke City Centre | 132 | $20,515,130 |
| 10 | Mimico-Queensway | 128 | $27,485,000 |
| 11 | Bay-Cloverhill | 122 | $116,838,690 |
| 12 | York University Heights | 117 | $18,310,120 |
| 13 | Wellington Place | 115 | $22,411,564 |
| 14 | Stonegate-Queensway | 108 | $34,146,194 |
| 15 | St Lawrence-East Bayfront-The Islands | 106 | $228,412,120 |
| 16 | High Park North | 104 | $7,982,500 |
| 17 | Wexford/Maryvale | 103 | $5,573,868 |
| 18 | Trinity-Bellwoods | 103 | $56,788,400 |
| 19 | Rosedale-Moore Park | 103 | $27,598,900 |
| 20 | Banbury-Don Mills | 101 | $27,488,115 |
Top 20 neighbourhoods by open-permit count. Areas outside this list still have open 2017 permits.
Largest 2017 projects still open
The highest-value permits from 2017 that have not closed out, ranked by estimated construction cost.
| Address | Work | Status | Open | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 600 University Ave, Toronto, ON | Multiple Projects | Inspection | 3,373 d | $244,500,000 |
| 12 Bonnycastle St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 3,163 d | $131,800,000 |
| 43 Gerrard St W, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 3,370 d | $125,000,000 |
| 50-60 Charles St E, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 3,159 d | $114,738,000 |
| 511 Bremner Blvd, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 3,395 d | $110,000,000 |
| 460 Yonge St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 3,465 d | $100,000,000 |
| 1 Dartnell Ave, Toronto, ON | Other(MS) | Inspection | 3,362 d | $95,000,000 |
| 2384 Yonge St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 3,333 d | $80,000,000 |
| 55 St George St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 3,374 d | $77,256,000 |
| 135 Yorkville Ave, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 3,380 d | $75,000,000 |
| 188 Cumberland St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 3,318 d | $75,000,000 |
| 110 River St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 3,293 d | $75,000,000 |
| 210 Eastern Ave, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 3,369 d | $68,000,000 |
| 410 Bathurst St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 3,198 d | $53,000,000 |
| 50 Regent Park Blvd, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 3,146 d | $42,000,000 |
| 1265 Military Trl, Toronto, ON | Addition(s) | Inspection | 3,159 d | $38,200,000 |
| 125 Parkway Forest Dr, Toronto, ON | New Building | Permit Issued | 3,220 d | $37,000,000 |
| 48 Abell St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 3,146 d | $36,000,000 |
| 200 Sackville St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 3,214 d | $34,500,000 |
| 1555 Midland Ave, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 3,403 d | $32,000,000 |
| 3-5 Allenbury Gdns, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 3,368 d | $31,000,000 |
| 925 Dixon Rd, Toronto, ON | Multiple Projects | Inspection | 3,397 d | $30,000,000 |
| 927 A Eglinton Ave W, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 3,397 d | $27,000,000 |
| 555 Finch Ave W, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 3,163 d | $23,000,000 |
| 3080 Yonge St, Toronto, ON | Multiple Projects | Inspection | 3,306 d | $20,000,000 |
“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 2017 are still open?
- 8,643 permits issued in Toronto during 2017 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 2017. 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 2017 permits been open?
- Half of the 8,643 still-open permits from 2017 have been open for at least 3,319 days (about 9 years), measured from issue date to Jul 23, 2026. One in ten has been open longer than 3,452 days (about 9 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 2017 Toronto permits were never started?
- 1,474 of the 8,643 surviving 2017 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 2017 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 2017 to another year measures elapsed time rather than construction activity. Use the status and trade breakdowns within 2017 instead.