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How long a Toronto building permit takes
Half of all Toronto building permits are issued within 27 days of the application. That is the median across 937,334 permits the City has actually issued. The wait is not the same for everyone: new building runs to 86 days, and where you build moves it by weeks.
Planning a project? The permit timeline gives the figure for your type of work in your ward, from permits issued in the last three years.
- Median wait, all permits
- 27 days937,334 issued permits
- Median wait, 2026
- 28 days11 days off the 2023 peak
- Peak wait
- 39 days2023
- Slowest type of work
- 86 daysNew Building
Median days from application to issue, by year issued
Waits climbed from 29 days in 2019 to 39 in 2023, then fell back to 28 in 2026. 2026 is a part year: permits applied for recently and not yet issued cannot be counted, which pulls a current year's median down until it settles.
By type of work
| Type of work | Median days | Permits measured |
|---|---|---|
| New Building | 86 | 57,613 |
| Demolition | 49 | 27,129 |
| Piping: SFD/Semi | 41 | 4,867 |
| Addition(s) | 36 | 20,705 |
| Mechanical Building Permit Related(MS) | 35 | 163,838 |
| Building Additions/Alterations Other(BA) | 35 | 8,722 |
| Drain and Site Service Building Permit Related (DR) | 34 | 52,507 |
| Plumbing Building Permit Related(PS) | 31 | 183,751 |
| Multiple Projects | 29 | 51,347 |
| Sign Building Permit Related | 21 | 13,414 |
| Alteration to Existing Building | 21 | 9,358 |
| Interior Alterations | 20 | 105,292 |
| Install/Alter HVAC - only | 20 | 5,796 |
| Backflow Prevention Devices (Water only) | 17 | 17,041 |
| Unknown | 16 | 16,912 |
| Small Residential Projects Other(SR) | 11 | 9,090 |
| Install/Alter Plumbing - only | 11 | 7,562 |
| Party Wall Admin Permits | 11 | 7,300 |
| Electromagnetic Locks | 10 | 7,987 |
| Deck | 9 | 7,281 |
| Plumbing Other(PS) | 9 | 6,043 |
| Pool Fence Enclosure | 7 | 5,994 |
| Garage | 5 | 11,514 |
| Porch | 5 | 6,146 |
| Back Water Valve (Sewer only) | 0 | 40,238 |
The 25 types with the most issued permits. New Building is the slowest at 86 days; porch clears in 5.
By ward
| Ward | Median days | Permits measured |
|---|---|---|
| Scarborough-Rouge Park | 52 | 23,139 |
| Scarborough North | 51 | 19,869 |
| Humber River-Black Creek | 51 | 17,303 |
| Scarborough Southwest | 48 | 33,984 |
| Scarborough-Agincourt | 38 | 14,337 |
| Scarborough Centre | 35 | 21,820 |
| Etobicoke North | 35 | 18,678 |
| Etobicoke-Lakeshore | 34 | 54,031 |
| York Centre | 33 | 27,197 |
| Scarborough-Guildwood | 33 | 12,606 |
| Willowdale | 29 | 38,749 |
| York South-Weston | 29 | 28,360 |
| Don Valley East | 29 | 20,574 |
| Don Valley North | 28 | 17,712 |
| Spadina-Fort York | 24 | 63,002 |
| Eglinton-Lawrence | 23 | 58,108 |
| Toronto Centre | 23 | 41,703 |
| Etobicoke Centre | 23 | 31,932 |
| Don Valley West | 22 | 47,942 |
| Toronto-St. Paul's | 21 | 44,072 |
| University-Rosedale | 20 | 69,260 |
| Beaches-East York | 18 | 45,737 |
| Davenport | 17 | 39,916 |
| Toronto-Danforth | 16 | 51,130 |
| Parkdale-High Park | 15 | 40,427 |
Scarborough-Rouge Park is the slowest ward at 52 days; Parkdale-High Park the fastest at 15. A ward's mix of work explains much of that: wards with more new builds wait longer.
How this is measured
Each permit is counted once, from the date it was first applied for to the date it was first issued. A revised permit carries a new application date on every revision row; measuring from the latest revision would report the revision's turnaround, not the applicant's, and would make the median look roughly a third shorter than it is.
Only issued permits can be measured, so anything still in the queue is absent, and a long-running application is counted on the day it finally clears. 937,334 of the City's 997,873 permits carry both dates. Waits of more than 2,000 days, and the 0.01% of records issued before they were applied for, are dropped as data errors. A page shows a median only where at least 20 of its permits were issued.
These are calendar days, not business days, and they measure the City's record, not the applicant's experience: time spent preparing drawings or answering a request for more information sits inside the same window. Latest permit on file: Nov 8, 2026. Source and caveats: method.