2020 permits
Toronto building permits from 2020: 7,676 are still open
Of the building permits Toronto issued in 2020, 7,676 remained in the City’s active permit register, and half of them have been open for at least 2,198 days (about 6 years).
This is not annual permit volume. The 2020 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
7,676
Median time open
2,198 d
Median value
$80,000
Total value
$5,241,425,038
Value figures cover the 3,587 of 7,676 still-open 2020 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 2020 permits are at
1,540 of them (20.1%) show no sign of work having begun: the permit was issued and the file has not moved past that point.
| Status | Permits | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Inspection | 4,739 | 61.7% |
| Permit Issued | 1,470 | 19.2% |
| Revision Issued | 963 | 12.5% |
| Revocation Pending | 432 | 5.6% |
| Work Not Started | 70 | 0.9% |
| Pending Cancellation | 1 | 0.0% |
| Extension Granted | 1 | 0.0% |
Still-open 2020 permits by trade
| Trade | Permits | Total value |
|---|---|---|
| Plumbing | 1,535 | $69,836,448 |
| Interior alteration | 1,499 | $413,542,135 |
| Addition | 1,378 | $572,061,253 |
| HVAC | 1,067 | $97,767,990 |
| New build | 732 | $3,647,935,750 |
| Other / unclassified | 425 | $106,856,042 |
| Deck | 375 | $75,987,805 |
| Demolition | 232 | $74,153,773 |
| Window / Door | 217 | $29,921,874 |
| Roofing | 158 | $32,072,741 |
| Pool | 34 | $112,952,000 |
| Electrical | 24 | $8,337,228 |
Neighbourhoods with the most open 2020 permits
| Rank | Neighbourhood | Open permits | Total value |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Clanton Park | 275 | $102,596,952 |
| 2 | Yonge-Bay Corridor | 198 | $217,630,211 |
| 3 | Annex | 198 | $99,226,064 |
| 4 | South Riverdale | 184 | $601,057,200 |
| 5 | West Humber-Clairville | 163 | $135,442,606 |
| 6 | Wexford/Maryvale | 148 | $12,573,235 |
| 7 | High Park-Swansea | 143 | $15,237,000 |
| 8 | Trinity-Bellwoods | 113 | $8,771,268 |
| 9 | York University Heights | 109 | $67,899,875 |
| 10 | The Beaches | 108 | $90,381,500 |
| 11 | Wellington Place | 104 | $126,063,930 |
| 12 | Stonegate-Queensway | 102 | $15,182,538 |
| 13 | Kensington-Chinatown | 100 | $30,940,847 |
| 14 | Rosedale-Moore Park | 99 | $21,807,000 |
| 15 | Birchcliffe-Cliffside | 98 | $35,019,146 |
| 16 | Junction Area | 97 | $11,411,925 |
| 17 | East End-Danforth | 94 | $42,699,000 |
| 18 | Etobicoke City Centre | 92 | $34,017,623 |
| 19 | Banbury-Don Mills | 90 | $10,111,851 |
| 20 | Roncesvalles | 87 | $6,076,200 |
Top 20 neighbourhoods by open-permit count. Areas outside this list still have open 2020 permits.
Largest 2020 projects still open
The highest-value permits from 2020 that have not closed out, ranked by estimated construction cost.
| Address | Work | Status | Open | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 55 Lake Shore Blvd E, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 2,073 d | $380,000,000 |
| 825 Coxwell Ave, Toronto, ON | Addition(s) | Inspection | 2,221 d | $300,000,000 |
| 79 East Don Roadway, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 2,199 d | $170,000,000 |
| 79 East Don Roadway, Toronto, ON | New Building | Permit Issued | 2,199 d | $170,000,000 |
| 79 East Don Roadway, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 2,092 d | $170,000,000 |
| 7 Yonge St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 2,136 d | $150,000,000 |
| 215 Church St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 2,297 d | $144,000,000 |
| 20 Edward St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 2,099 d | $126,040,250 |
| 620 Dundas St E, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 2,187 d | $110,000,000 |
| 154 Front St E, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 2,243 d | $105,000,000 |
| 505 Richmond St W, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 2,032 d | $90,000,000 |
| 325 Humber College Blvd, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 2,046 d | $88,000,000 |
| 19 Western Battery Rd, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 2,361 d | $70,000,000 |
| 2376 Dundas St W, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 2,039 d | $70,000,000 |
| 200 Russell Hill Rd, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 2,093 d | $69,000,000 |
| 92 Front St E, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 2,360 d | $66,423,720 |
| 101 Roehampton Ave, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 2,222 d | $65,000,000 |
| 907 Kingston Rd, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 2,054 d | $65,000,000 |
| 2 Gibbs Rd, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 2,268 d | $64,000,000 |
| 181 Bedford Rd, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 2,148 d | $64,000,000 |
| 32-50 Forest Manor Rd, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 2,183 d | $63,000,000 |
| 1001 Sheppard Ave E, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 2,114 d | $62,000,000 |
| 32-50 Forest Manor Rd, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 2,050 d | $61,000,000 |
| 170 Eastern Ave, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 2,369 d | $60,000,000 |
| 620 Avenue Rd, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 2,360 d | $60,000,000 |
“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 2020 are still open?
- 7,676 permits issued in Toronto during 2020 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 2020. 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 2020 permits been open?
- Half of the 7,676 still-open permits from 2020 have been open for at least 2,198 days (about 6 years), measured from issue date to Jul 23, 2026. One in ten has been open longer than 2,359 days (about 6 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 2020 Toronto permits were never started?
- 1,540 of the 7,676 surviving 2020 permits (20.1%) 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 2020 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 2020 to another year measures elapsed time rather than construction activity. Use the status and trade breakdowns within 2020 instead.