2021 permits
Toronto building permits from 2021: 9,112 are still open
Of the building permits Toronto issued in 2021, 9,112 remained in the City’s active permit register, and half of them have been open for at least 1,847 days (about 5 years).
This is not annual permit volume. The 2021 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
9,112
Median time open
1,847 d
Median value
$83,165
Total value
$6,189,030,938
Value figures cover the 4,265 of 9,112 still-open 2021 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 2021 permits are at
1,669 of them (18.3%) show no sign of work having begun: the permit was issued and the file has not moved past that point.
| Status | Permits | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Inspection | 5,789 | 63.5% |
| Permit Issued | 1,608 | 17.6% |
| Revision Issued | 1,057 | 11.6% |
| Revocation Pending | 596 | 6.5% |
| Work Not Started | 60 | 0.7% |
| Ready for Issuance | 1 | 0.0% |
| Application On Hold | 1 | 0.0% |
Still-open 2021 permits by trade
| Trade | Permits | Total value |
|---|---|---|
| Plumbing | 1,862 | $84,852,289 |
| Addition | 1,859 | $370,963,678 |
| Interior alteration | 1,596 | $713,235,405 |
| HVAC | 1,196 | $246,464,777 |
| New build | 843 | $4,456,963,584 |
| Deck | 500 | $55,438,017 |
| Other / unclassified | 476 | $54,986,742 |
| Window / Door | 257 | $45,132,464 |
| Demolition | 216 | $59,201,864 |
| Roofing | 188 | $64,169,265 |
| Pool | 86 | $27,596,600 |
| Electrical | 33 | $10,026,253 |
Neighbourhoods with the most open 2021 permits
| Rank | Neighbourhood | Open permits | Total value |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Annex | 223 | $286,280,244 |
| 2 | Yonge-Bay Corridor | 203 | $187,558,105 |
| 3 | South Riverdale | 192 | $100,677,792 |
| 4 | High Park-Swansea | 171 | $72,273,242 |
| 5 | West Humber-Clairville | 164 | $132,206,121 |
| 6 | Stonegate-Queensway | 154 | $62,060,131 |
| 7 | Rosedale-Moore Park | 150 | $75,221,500 |
| 8 | Kingsway South | 146 | $7,423,700 |
| 9 | Wexford/Maryvale | 135 | $9,491,140 |
| 10 | Trinity-Bellwoods | 131 | $15,067,000 |
| 11 | Roncesvalles | 130 | $45,584,000 |
| 12 | Beechborough-Greenbrook | 128 | $73,529,403 |
| 13 | Etobicoke City Centre | 122 | $263,433,340 |
| 14 | The Beaches | 117 | $9,961,444 |
| 15 | St.Andrew-Windfields | 116 | $24,880,090 |
| 16 | Kensington-Chinatown | 115 | $87,993,499 |
| 17 | Birchcliffe-Cliffside | 113 | $59,173,455 |
| 18 | Banbury-Don Mills | 111 | $125,185,682 |
| 19 | York University Heights | 110 | $94,358,587 |
| 20 | Bedford Park-Nortown | 107 | $37,044,400 |
Top 20 neighbourhoods by open-permit count. Areas outside this list still have open 2021 permits.
Largest 2021 projects still open
The highest-value permits from 2021 that have not closed out, ranked by estimated construction cost.
| Address | Work | Status | Open | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 112 College St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 1,896 d | $600,000,000 |
| 500 Lake Shore Blvd W, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 1,897 d | $200,000,000 |
| 1926 Lake Shore Blvd W, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 2,015 d | $175,000,000 |
| 55 Charles St E, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 1,931 d | $160,000,000 |
| 15 Mercer St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 1,844 d | $150,000,000 |
| 117 Broadway Ave, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 1,759 d | $150,000,000 |
| 10 Eva Rd, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 1,711 d | $150,000,000 |
| 4917-4975 Yonge St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 1,940 d | $149,584,000 |
| 620 Dundas St E, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 1,830 d | $130,000,000 |
| 5220 Yonge St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 1,805 d | $122,000,000 |
| 5220 Yonge St, Toronto, ON | Site Service | Inspection | 1,772 d | $122,000,000 |
| 30 Zorra St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 1,728 d | $110,522,000 |
| 275 Albany Ave, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 1,994 d | $110,000,000 |
| 19 Duncan St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 1,793 d | $100,000,000 |
| 593 Yonge St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 2,004 d | $95,000,000 |
| 39 Roehampton Ave, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 1,925 d | $93,000,000 |
| 834 Yonge St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 1,959 d | $80,000,000 |
| 11-21 Allenbury Gdns, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 1,876 d | $80,000,000 |
| 203 Jarvis St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 1,875 d | $80,000,000 |
| 3415-3499 Weston Rd, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 1,744 d | $80,000,000 |
| 40 Widmer St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 1,812 d | $70,000,000 |
| 600 Dixon Rd, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 1,736 d | $70,000,000 |
| 2112-2114 Yonge St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 1,885 d | $69,000,000 |
| 49 The Donway W, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 1,757 d | $65,266,838 |
| 25 Vickers Rd, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 1,700 d | $64,000,000 |
“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 2021 are still open?
- 9,112 permits issued in Toronto during 2021 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 2021. 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 2021 permits been open?
- Half of the 9,112 still-open permits from 2021 have been open for at least 1,847 days (about 5 years), measured from issue date to Jul 23, 2026. One in ten has been open longer than 1,989 days (about 5 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 2021 Toronto permits were never started?
- 1,669 of the 9,112 surviving 2021 permits (18.3%) 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 2021 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 2021 to another year measures elapsed time rather than construction activity. Use the status and trade breakdowns within 2021 instead.