Victoria building permits: what 90 days shows trades

01 · Victoria in 90 days: the short version

Between July 21 and October 19, 2026, the City of Victoria issued 151 building permits, counted by issue date from the city's open-data feed. The declared value on those permits adds up to $251.9 million.

Three caveats before the numbers. PermitRadius has Victoria's feed from July 2026, so 90 days is close to everything on file and there's no year-over-year comparison yet. The figures cover the City of Victoria only, not the neighbouring municipalities. And declared value is what the applicant wrote on the permit, not what the job will finally cost.

Here's how the 151 break down:

• 85 additions and alterations
• 32 commercial permits
• 20 demolitions
• 5 pool / backyard permits
• 4 new houses, 4 multiplexes and 1 duplex
• 9 permits with a declared value over $1 million

02 · Victoria is a renovation market

More than half the permits, 85 of 151, are additions and alterations. New houses are a small slice: 4 in 90 days, plus 4 multiplexes and 1 duplex.

That changes the pitch for a trade. In a new subdivision you're chasing a builder with a row of lots. In Victoria you're more often looking at an existing building and a contractor reworking part of it. Those jobs are spread across more addresses and usually smaller than a new build, but there are far more of them, and the property owner has already committed to spending.

The feature tags point the same way. Across the 90 days, 10 permits mention a deck or patio, 9 mention a suite, and one each mention a garage and a retaining wall. A new suite means finishing work for a second unit: flooring, drywall, painting, cabinets, electrical and plumbing.

03 · Where the permits are, by neighbourhood

Permit counts by neighbourhood over the 90 days:

• Downtown: 25
• James Bay: 20
• Fairfield: 19
• Burnside: 18
• Rockland: 12
• Fernwood and Gonzales: 11 each
• Oaklands: 9
• Hillside/Quadra and Victoria West: 8 each

James Bay, Fairfield, Rockland, Fernwood and Gonzales together account for 73 permits, close to half the city's total. These are established residential neighbourhoods, which fits the renovation-heavy mix above.

If your crew is based near them, a fairly tight service radius covers a large share of Victoria's permit activity. That's the practical point for a residential trade: less driving between quotes.

04 · Count the permits, not the dollars

The $251.9 million total is real, but it's lumpy. Downtown's 25 permits carry $202.7 million of it, about four-fifths. The 4 multiplex permits declared $77.3 million between them, and Victoria West's 8 permits declared $25.0 million.

The last 30 days show the other side. In that window, 19 additions and alterations declared $2.08 million together, about $109,000 per permit. That's an average, so one larger job can pull it up.

So for a residential trade, the useful number is how many permits land in your neighbourhoods each week, not the city's headline dollar figure. For commercial and multi-family trades, the 9 permits over $1 million are where to look. Our guide to BC permit data explains what the fields on a permit do and don't tell you, and we ran the same exercise for New Westminster.

05 · What it means for your trade

Landscaping. With the landscaping filter on, 24 of the 151 permits match: 10 additions and alterations, 5 pool / backyard permits, 4 new houses, 4 multiplexes and 1 duplex. Six of them mention a deck or patio, and 8 are over $1 million. Rockland leads with 4 matches, followed by Downtown, James Bay and Victoria West at 3 each. The landscaping page shows how the filter works, and the new-build landscaping calendar covers timing.

Fit-out trades. There were 32 commercial permits in 90 days with $5.68 million in declared value, and 10 of them came in the last 30 days. Cleaners, electricians, painters and sign shops all have a reason to know which commercial spaces are being worked on.

Finishing trades. The 9 suite tags are worth a look for flooring, drywall, painting and cabinet work. A suite is a whole second unit to finish, not one room.

Demolition, excavation and concrete. 20 demolition permits were issued in 90 days. On a residential lot, a demolition permit often comes before a rebuild, which makes it an early signal for excavation and concrete now and for landscaping later.

06 · The fall pace

The weekly count ran from 7 to 20 over the period. It peaked at 20 in the week of September 7 and sat at 7 a week for the two weeks to October 11.

Two slow weeks aren't a trend, and with a feed that starts in July there's no earlier fall to compare against yet. What it does tell you is scale: in a quieter week, the permits that fit your trade will be a handful, so each one is worth a proper look rather than a mass mail-out.

07 · Try it

The live demo shows what a weekly PermitRadius list looks like, no sign-up needed: new permits inside a service radius, filtered for a trade, with the builder behind each one. The Victoria building permits page has the city overview, and pricing lists the plans and the 14-day trial.