Business building permits downtown
Area: Downtown Victoria Calendar years 2023–2025 (yearly average) · Where this covers
61 permits a year
Getting worse
Was 69 a year in 2020–2022 and 114 a year in 2017–2019
Source: City of Victoria, Calendar years 2023–2025 · Full source
What it measures
How many building permits a year the City issued for commercial properties in the Downtown neighbourhood, such as fitting out a shop, restaurant or office, or larger building work. The headline is the average of the latest three full years, because single years are small and swing a lot.
Why it matters
Permits show owners and businesses choosing to invest in downtown space. Storefront vacancy and foot traffic would be more direct, but they are not published as open data.
Over time
How we decided “getting worse”
A higher number means more owners and businesses are investing in commercial space downtown, such as fitting out a new shop, restaurant or office. 61.3 permits a year on average in 2023–2025, compared with 68.7 in 2020–2022 (-11%) and 114.0 in 2017–2019 (-46%). Three-year averages are used because the yearly numbers are small. Most recent 12 months for reference: 79 permits in the 12 months to Nov 9, 2026, compared with 54 in the 12 months before. The rules.
Source
- Period
- Calendar years 2023–2025 (yearly average)
- Updated by agency
- Daily; latest release Nov 9, 2026
- Retrieved
- Nov 11, 2026, 12:39 AM B.C. time
Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - City of Victoria.
Show the numbers as a table
| Period | Value |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 57 |
| 2024 | 58 |
| 2023 | 69 |
| 2022 | 64 |
| 2021 | 72 |
| 2020 | 70 |
| 2019 | 117 |
| 2018 | 114 |
| 2017 | 111 |
| 2016 | 106 |
| 2015 | 118 |
| 2014 | 143 |
| 2013 | 100 |
| 2012 | 130 |
| 2011 | 155 |
| 2010 | 109 |
Keep in mind
- Counts building permits on properties the City classes as commercial in the Downtown neighbourhood: interior work (for example fitting out a shop, restaurant or office), larger or complex projects, and other commercial building work. Demolition, strip-out, blasting and noise permits, and permits later cancelled, are not counted. Each permit is counted once.
- A permit shows that someone is investing in a space. It does not show that a business opened, how long it stays, or how many storefronts are empty. Storefront vacancy is not published as open data (see the methods page).
- The numbers are small, so a handful of permits can move a single year; the headline therefore uses three-year averages (calculated here from the yearly totals). Calendar-year totals: 2010: 109, 2011: 155, 2012: 130, 2013: 100, 2014: 143, 2015: 118, 2016: 106, 2017: 111, 2018: 114, 2019: 117, 2020: 70, 2021: 72, 2022: 64, 2023: 69, 2024: 58, 2025: 57.
- The count is calculated here from the City's complete permit file, which is updated daily. The City also publishes a separate 10-year summary file whose counts for the same years are lower; that file is not used.
- Some permits may be entered after they are issued, so the most recent weeks can rise slightly when the file is refreshed.
Where this covers
Area: Downtown Victoria
The City of Victoria’s Downtown neighbourhood only.
Included
- The Downtown neighbourhood as drawn on the City of Victoria’s official neighbourhood map
Not included
- Every other City neighbourhood (for example James Bay, Fairfield, North Park and Burnside)
- All other municipalities
Official definition
How the agency describes it: Downtown Victoria (the City of Victoria's Downtown neighbourhood).
Connected to: Municipal (permits issued by the City), Business owners and landlords. This is a label, not a judgement.