A look at building activity and permit wait times in West End, compared against the rest of Vancouver.
Faster than average
Building permits in West End took about 18 days recently — quicker than the citywide 72.
1The story
In plain terms: West End has seen 2,490 building permits on record. In the last few years, a typical permit here took about 18 days, versus 72 days citywide — so it's a bit faster than the average neighborhood. Permit activity peaked around 2018.
2The evidence
18d
typical permit here (recent)
72d
citywide typical
2,490
permits on record
Typical permit wait time in West End
Each bar is West End'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 West End.
What's been approved recently
The 5 most recent building permits in West End.
Date
Type
Address
2026-10-14
Addition / Alteration
1419 BEACH AVENUE #402, Vancouver, BC V6G 1Y3
2026-10-11
Addition / Alteration
1144 ROBSON STREET, Vancouver, BC V6E 1B2
2026-10-09
Addition / Alteration
1925 NELSON STREET, Vancouver, BC V6G 1N3
2026-10-07
Temporary Building / Structure
1081 BURRARD STREET, Vancouver, BC V6Z 1Y6
2026-10-02
Addition / Alteration
1030 W GEORGIA STREET, Vancouver, BC V6E 2Y2
Permit types (last 12 mo)
Addition / Alteration · 183 (94%)Demolition / Deconstruction · 6 (3%)Temporary Building / Structure · 2 (1%)Salvage and Abatement · 2 (1%)New Building · 1 (1%)
4The fine print
How we calculated this
We filtered the City of Vancouver's building-permit records to those tagged 'West End' (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.