2019 permits
Toronto building permits from 2019: 8,656 are still open
Of the building permits Toronto issued in 2019, 8,656 remained in the City’s active permit register, and half of them have been open for at least 2,570 days (about 7 years).
This is not annual permit volume. The 2019 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
8,656
Median time open
2,570 d
Median value
$60,000
Total value
$3,042,398,391
Value figures cover the 4,140 of 8,656 still-open 2019 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 2019 permits are at
1,563 of them (18.1%) show no sign of work having begun: the permit was issued and the file has not moved past that point.
| Status | Permits | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Inspection | 5,597 | 64.7% |
| Permit Issued | 1,499 | 17.3% |
| Revision Issued | 1,123 | 13.0% |
| Revocation Pending | 370 | 4.3% |
| Work Not Started | 62 | 0.7% |
| Ready for Issuance | 2 | 0.0% |
| Work Suspended | 1 | 0.0% |
| Pending Cancellation | 1 | 0.0% |
| Refusal Notice | 1 | 0.0% |
Still-open 2019 permits by trade
| Trade | Permits | Total value |
|---|---|---|
| Plumbing | 1,874 | $211,263,759 |
| Interior alteration | 1,779 | $419,299,001 |
| Addition | 1,586 | $248,019,776 |
| HVAC | 1,137 | $47,449,100 |
| New build | 730 | $1,799,215,253 |
| Other / unclassified | 463 | $70,492,424 |
| Deck | 388 | $37,591,460 |
| Roofing | 213 | $81,912,697 |
| Window / Door | 212 | $45,805,293 |
| Demolition | 198 | $36,958,106 |
| Pool | 47 | $28,280,700 |
| Electrical | 29 | $16,110,822 |
Neighbourhoods with the most open 2019 permits
| Rank | Neighbourhood | Open permits | Total value |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yorkdale-Glen Park | 242 | $22,285,800 |
| 2 | Yonge-Bay Corridor | 233 | $87,344,375 |
| 3 | Annex | 193 | $56,295,802 |
| 4 | The Beaches | 182 | $13,612,972 |
| 5 | Kensington-Chinatown | 182 | $135,826,614 |
| 6 | South Riverdale | 175 | $184,497,100 |
| 7 | Wexford/Maryvale | 161 | $24,573,500 |
| 8 | West Humber-Clairville | 147 | $43,359,946 |
| 9 | Yonge-St.Clair | 145 | $57,410,000 |
| 10 | High Park-Swansea | 142 | $22,198,980 |
| 11 | Rosedale-Moore Park | 128 | $12,174,557 |
| 12 | York University Heights | 127 | $8,756,285 |
| 13 | Stonegate-Queensway | 123 | $15,621,000 |
| 14 | Wellington Place | 117 | $106,858,350 |
| 15 | Etobicoke City Centre | 115 | $22,682,385 |
| 16 | St Lawrence-East Bayfront-The Islands | 108 | $38,006,118 |
| 17 | High Park North | 107 | $26,266,977 |
| 18 | Moss Park | 101 | $5,110,800 |
| 19 | Trinity-Bellwoods | 100 | $6,933,003 |
| 20 | Junction Area | 93 | $7,100,700 |
Top 20 neighbourhoods by open-permit count. Areas outside this list still have open 2019 permits.
Largest 2019 projects still open
The highest-value permits from 2019 that have not closed out, ranked by estimated construction cost.
| Address | Work | Status | Open | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 Leslie St, Toronto, ON | Inside and Outside Drains | Revision Issued | 2,533 d | $162,000,000 |
| 197 Yonge St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 2,725 d | $142,000,000 |
| 1100 King St W, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 2,757 d | $125,000,000 |
| 387 Bloor St E, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 2,457 d | $116,000,000 |
| 44 Dunfield Ave, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 2,610 d | $100,000,000 |
| 571 Dundas St W, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 2,670 d | $80,000,000 |
| 20 Tubman Ave, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 2,585 d | $77,888,000 |
| 283 Adelaide St W, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 2,478 d | $73,000,000 |
| 225 Village Green Sq, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 2,407 d | $68,000,000 |
| 25 Thunder Grv, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 2,625 d | $64,000,000 |
| 2360 Yonge St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 2,722 d | $62,250,878 |
| 2281 Yonge St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 2,632 d | $50,000,000 |
| 65 Grand Magazine St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 2,557 d | $50,000,000 |
| 281 Avenue Rd, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 2,506 d | $50,000,000 |
| 75 Canterbury Pl, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 2,733 d | $47,675,400 |
| 2143 Lake Shore Blvd W, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 2,435 d | $45,000,000 |
| 1630 Queen St E, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 2,611 d | $40,000,000 |
| 600 University Ave, Toronto, ON | Interior Alterations | Inspection | 2,722 d | $35,000,000 |
| 11-21 Allenbury Gdns, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 2,477 d | $35,000,000 |
| 437 Yonge St, Toronto, ON | Addition(s) | Inspection | 2,457 d | $30,700,000 |
| 65 Livingston Rd, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 2,669 d | $30,000,000 |
| 143 Avenue Rd, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 2,597 d | $30,000,000 |
| 2 Queen St W, Toronto, ON | Multiple Projects | Inspection | 2,488 d | $30,000,000 |
| 500 Cummer Ave, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 2,478 d | $26,000,000 |
| 130 St George St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 2,565 d | $24,750,000 |
“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 2019 are still open?
- 8,656 permits issued in Toronto during 2019 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 2019. 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 2019 permits been open?
- Half of the 8,656 still-open permits from 2019 have been open for at least 2,570 days (about 7 years), measured from issue date to Jul 23, 2026. One in ten has been open longer than 2,717 days (about 7 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 2019 Toronto permits were never started?
- 1,563 of the 8,656 surviving 2019 permits (18.1%) 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 2019 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 2019 to another year measures elapsed time rather than construction activity. Use the status and trade breakdowns within 2019 instead.