CatalogPermits

Recently Issued Permits

Every commercial building permit issued in your target municipality last month. Construction value, permit type, asset class, and the owner on record. The earliest signal of development activity, months before it shows up in vacancy or absorption data.

This package delivers VIREC Permit IDs with every order. Use VIREC AI to instantly profile, cross-reference, and act on the IDs you receive.

Configure your signal

Country

Up to3,226permitsin selection
OR
Speak with a VIREC Expert

What you are getting

The development pipeline before it becomes competition.

Recently Issued Permits gives you a regularly updated feed of every commercial building permit issued in your selected municipality. New construction, renovations, and change-of-use permits, each with declared construction value, permit type, asset class, owner name, and property address. The most forward-looking signal in the catalog.

Why permits lead the market

A permit issued today is a building delivered in 18 to 36 months

Commercial development has a long lead time. Vacancy and absorption data tell you what happened last quarter. Permit data tells you what will happen to supply over the next one to three years. Monitor permit activity in your target submarket and you will see future competition, and future opportunity, well before the cranes arrive.

Built for your workflow

Who uses this

Developer / Investor

Track new construction starts in your target submarket before they affect vacancy and rents. Know what competition is coming before anyone else does.

Broker / Sales Agent

Identify property owners who just pulled a renovation permit, they are upgrading an asset and may need a leasing partner, capital advisory, or sales support.

Lender / Mortgage Broker

Monitor construction financing demand in your market. New-construction permit volume is a leading indicator of upcoming loan origination opportunities.

Appraiser / Consultant

Incorporate forward supply pipeline data into market analysis and valuation work. Permit volume and construction value are critical inputs to supply-demand modelling.

What you will receive

Sample data

Sample data shown below is anonymised and synthetic. It is provided for illustrative purposes only and does not represent real properties, owners, or permits.
AddressCityAsset ClassProperty IDPermit IDIssued DatePermit TypePermit DetailsColumnColumn
455 Rue Wellington, Montréal, QC H3C 1J1MontréalMixed-UsePROP-CA-MTL-09423PMT-CA-MTL-2025-44821Sep 8, 2025New ConstructionNew 6-storey mixed-use building with ground floor commercial and 48 residential units above
2730 Boul. Concorde E., Laval, QC H7E 4T1LavalCommercialPROP-CA-LAV-11902PMT-CA-LAV-2025-31047Aug 22, 2025RenovationInterior commercial renovation - replacement of HVAC system and tenant fit-up for new anchor tenant

How this signal holds up

Data quality

SourcePrimary

Sourced directly from municipal permit portals

Records are collected from municipal open-data portals and VIREC's proprietary collection pipelines, normalized to a common schema, and geocoded before delivery.

Coverage:Canada and the USA.
RefreshFrequently updated

Kept current as new permits are filed

Each edition contains all permits issued in the selected municipality during the selected period. Historical data is available for trend analysis and pipeline tracking.

Archive:Historical data available.
ScopeCommercial only

Commercial permits only

New construction, renovation, and change-of-use permits for commercial asset classes. Residential permits are excluded.

Permit types:New construction, renovation, change-of-use, demolition (see separate dataset).

Frequently asked questions

FAQ

01Why do permit records matter more than transaction records for certain use cases?

Permits are earlier in the cycle than transactions. A building permit is issued before the renovation starts, often months before the asset changes hands , or years before, if the owner is upgrading to hold. For anyone trying to reach an owner at the moment they are making capital decisions , contractors, suppliers, lenders financing construction, insurance providers , the permit is a more actionable signal than a sale. The permit tells you who is spending money on a property right now.

02What date triggers inclusion , the application date or the issue date?

The permit's official issue date. Applications still under review are not included. This matters because a permit application and a permit approval can be months apart , a pending application is not a committed project. Only formally issued permits, where the municipality has approved the work, make it into the dataset. That distinction gives you clean, action-ready signals rather than speculative pipeline noise.

03Who gets the most value out of this package, and how do they use it?

Contractors and trades: identify owners actively investing in their properties , the permit detail narrative tells you what work is planned. Construction lenders: permitted projects signal near-term financing needs; reach the owner before the general contractor does. Brokers and investors: a permitted property is changing , use this to track what owners are upgrading and in which corridors, before price signals reach the market. Insurance and property services: new permit activity means new coverage and service needs. The permit detail column tells you what type of work to expect.

04Can I filter by permit type within the dataset?

The base dataset includes all commercial permit types for your selected market, quarter, and asset class. The Permit Type and Permit Detail columns give you the data to segment within the delivered file , renovation, new construction, mechanical, electrical, structural, and more. If you only want new-build permits or only renovation activity, those fields let you sort and filter without any data loss on delivery. For demolition permits specifically, see the Demolition Permits package, which applies that filter upstream.

05Can I select multiple quarters, and what does sustained permit activity signal?

Yes, multi-quarter selection is fully supported. A property that appears across multiple quarters with ongoing permit activity is one of the strongest investment signals in the dataset , it indicates an owner actively upgrading or repositioning an asset over time. For investors and brokers tracking corridor activity, identifying properties with repeated permit filings can reveal pockets of concentrated investment before that activity becomes visible in transaction prices.

06What can I do with the Property IDs in this dataset?

Every Property ID is queryable in the VIREC AI Tool. Drop any ID to pull the full property profile , ownership identity and mailing address, ownership history, all other permit activity on the asset, transaction history, and more. The permit dataset surfaces the signal; the AI Tool is where you build the full picture on any owner or asset that warrants a closer look.

07Where does the data come from?

VIREC sources permit data directly from public municipal filings across all covered markets , no third-party aggregators, no data resellers. Records are standardized into a single clean schema, making cross-market analysis possible and ensuring that Property IDs are consistent and linkable across all VIREC packages and the AI Tool.

08How is the data delivered to me?

Once your order is confirmed, the dataset is automatically loaded into your VIREC Platform account and accessible immediately in the Saved tab. No download required, no file to import. If you need the data in a specific format or through a different channel, contact us and we will accommodate your requirements.

09Can I see a sample before purchasing?

Yes. A representative data sample is available for every package in the catalog. Use the Request a Sample option on this page and we will send it directly to your inbox. The sample reflects the exact schema, field structure, and data quality of the full dataset, so you know precisely what you are buying before you commit.

10Can I combine this with other VIREC packages?

Yes. Recently Issued Permits pairs naturally with ownership intelligence. Cross the property IDs against Investor-Owned Properties to find non-occupying owners who are actively investing in their assets. Layer with Long-Tenure Owners to identify decade-plus holders who are now spending capital, a strong signal that a disposition or repositioning is in motion. All IDs are consistent across every package and the AI Tool.

Recommended

Signals that pair well with this one

See all