2023 permits
Toronto building permits from 2023: 12,039 are still open
Of the building permits Toronto issued in 2023, 12,039 remained in the City’s active permit register, and half of them have been open for at least 1,099 days (about 3 years).
This is not annual permit volume. The 2023 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
12,039
Median time open
1,099 d
Median value
$100,000
Total value
$7,939,034,578
Value figures cover the 4,692 of 12,039 still-open 2023 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 2023 permits are at
2,633 of them (21.9%) show no sign of work having begun: the permit was issued and the file has not moved past that point.
| Status | Permits | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Inspection | 7,496 | 62.3% |
| Permit Issued | 2,574 | 21.4% |
| Revision Issued | 1,360 | 11.3% |
| Revocation Pending | 549 | 4.6% |
| Work Not Started | 59 | 0.5% |
| Under Review | 1 | 0.0% |
Still-open 2023 permits by trade
| Trade | Permits | Total value |
|---|---|---|
| Plumbing | 2,388 | $68,950,150 |
| Addition | 2,302 | $733,444,759 |
| New build | 1,926 | $5,350,482,345 |
| Interior alteration | 1,571 | $1,141,401,330 |
| HVAC | 1,485 | $125,365,182 |
| Other / unclassified | 628 | $43,914,471 |
| Demolition | 590 | $172,880,151 |
| Deck | 548 | $86,317,528 |
| Window / Door | 258 | $29,784,858 |
| Roofing | 205 | $55,502,085 |
| Pool | 109 | $38,543,466 |
| Electrical | 29 | $92,448,253 |
Neighbourhoods with the most open 2023 permits
| Rank | Neighbourhood | Open permits | Total value |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Malvern West | 625 | $786,150 |
| 2 | Bendale-Glen Andrew | 403 | $118,905,575 |
| 3 | Yonge-Bay Corridor | 312 | $386,079,942 |
| 4 | Etobicoke City Centre | 259 | $1,472,047,550 |
| 5 | Annex | 249 | $79,375,810 |
| 6 | Rosedale-Moore Park | 232 | $54,577,536 |
| 7 | Banbury-Don Mills | 205 | $145,096,205 |
| 8 | West Humber-Clairville | 200 | $243,788,852 |
| 9 | South Riverdale | 191 | $85,552,300 |
| 10 | The Beaches | 172 | $26,181,320 |
| 11 | Birchcliffe-Cliffside | 169 | $75,946,044 |
| 12 | Trinity-Bellwoods | 158 | $13,339,094 |
| 13 | High Park-Swansea | 154 | $15,287,835 |
| 14 | Stonegate-Queensway | 143 | $18,392,476 |
| 15 | Kensington-Chinatown | 139 | $41,046,738 |
| 16 | Clairlea-Birchmount | 138 | $121,183,250 |
| 17 | Bedford Park-Nortown | 135 | $30,308,150 |
| 18 | St.Andrew-Windfields | 132 | $19,514,637 |
| 19 | Wellington Place | 131 | $577,848,700 |
| 20 | Leaside-Bennington | 131 | $25,151,000 |
Top 20 neighbourhoods by open-permit count. Areas outside this list still have open 2023 permits.
Largest 2023 projects still open
The highest-value permits from 2023 that have not closed out, ranked by estimated construction cost.
| Address | Work | Status | Open | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 150 Sherway Dr, Toronto, ON | Multiple Projects | Inspection | 1,072 d | $480,000,000 |
| 150 Sherway Dr, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 1,014 d | $480,000,000 |
| 150 Sherway Dr, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 1,003 d | $480,000,000 |
| 539 King St W, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 1,157 d | $305,000,000 |
| 40 Temperance St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Revision Issued | 1,242 d | $300,000,000 |
| 530 Front St W, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 1,126 d | $235,000,000 |
| 65 Broadway Ave, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 1,185 d | $206,000,000 |
| 38 Annie Craig Dr, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 1,109 d | $195,000,000 |
| 55 Charles St E, Toronto, ON | New Building | Revision Issued | 1,213 d | $160,000,000 |
| 276 Main St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 1,022 d | $150,000,000 |
| 45 Strachan Ave, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 1,148 d | $138,000,000 |
| 610 Martin Grove Rd, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 1,210 d | $130,000,000 |
| 308 Jarvis St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 1,108 d | $130,000,000 |
| 100 Devonshire Pl, Toronto, ON | Addition(s) | Inspection | 1,197 d | $120,000,000 |
| 90 Eastdale Ave, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 1,227 d | $110,000,000 |
| 89 Church St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 1,086 d | $102,278,659 |
| 2161 Yonge St, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 1,196 d | $102,000,000 |
| 555 Rexdale Blvd, Toronto, ON | Multiple Projects | Inspection | 1,224 d | $100,000,000 |
| 3050 Pharmacy Ave, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 1,213 d | $100,000,000 |
| 844 Don Mills Rd, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 1,049 d | $100,000,000 |
| 1 Blue Jays Way, Toronto, ON | Interior Alterations | Inspection | 1,086 d | $96,000,000 |
| 2135 Sheppard Ave E, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 1,206 d | $90,000,000 |
| 6 Hoskin Ave, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 1,171 d | $90,000,000 |
| 1221 King St W, Toronto, ON | New Building | Inspection | 1,268 d | $85,000,000 |
| 2690 Eglinton Ave W, Toronto, ON | Other(BA) | Inspection | 995 d | $71,290,000 |
“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 2023 are still open?
- 12,039 permits issued in Toronto during 2023 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 2023. 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 2023 permits been open?
- Half of the 12,039 still-open permits from 2023 have been open for at least 1,099 days (about 3 years), measured from issue date to Jul 23, 2026. One in ten has been open longer than 1,254 days (about 3 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 2023 Toronto permits were never started?
- 2,633 of the 12,039 surviving 2023 permits (21.9%) 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 2023 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 2023 to another year measures elapsed time rather than construction activity. Use the status and trade breakdowns within 2023 instead.