A look at building activity and permit wait times in Downtown, compared against the rest of Vancouver.
Faster than average
Building permits in Downtown took about 28 days recently — quicker than the citywide 72.
1The story
In plain terms: Downtown has seen 7,583 building permits on record. In the last few years, a typical permit here took about 28 days, versus 72 days citywide — so it's a bit faster than the average neighborhood. Permit activity peaked around 2018.
2The evidence
28d
typical permit here (recent)
72d
citywide typical
7,583
permits on record
Typical permit wait time in Downtown
Each bar is Downtown's typical wait; the dashed line is the citywide average for that era.
Building activity, by year
Number of building permits issued each year.
3Permit radar — last 12 months
Monthly permit activity
Building permits issued per month in Downtown.
What's been approved recently
The 5 most recent building permits in Downtown.
Date
Type
Address
2026-10-16
Addition / Alteration
1066 HAMILTON STREET #204, Vancouver, BC V6B 2R9
2026-10-16
Addition / Alteration
900 W GEORGIA STREET, Vancouver, BC
2026-10-16
Addition / Alteration
15 W CORDOVA STREET, Vancouver, BC V6B 1C8
2026-10-15
Addition / Alteration
737 DUNSMUIR STREET, Vancouver, BC
2026-10-14
Addition / Alteration
1008 CAMBIE STREET, Vancouver, BC V6B 6J7
Permit types (last 12 mo)
Addition / Alteration · 672 (95%)Temporary Building / Structure · 15 (2%)Demolition / Deconstruction · 8 (1%)New Building · 7 (1%)Salvage and Abatement · 4 (1%)
4The fine print
How we calculated this
We filtered the City of Vancouver's building-permit records to those tagged 'Downtown' (the city's own local-area classification) and measured how long each took from application to approval, using the median. We compare that against the citywide median for the same years. This is our own analysis of public records.
City of Vancouver open data — Issued Building Permits · as of 2026-10-21 · Vancouver Promise Tracker — your slice of the city's public records.