Development Pipeline

The Development Pipeline bulletin (2023) examines how and where the city has grown over the past five years and how it will continue to develop in the near future.

Toronto is Canada’s most populous city, the focal point of development and growth, and the heart of the Greater Toronto Area. For many years now, Toronto has experienced a surge of both residential and non-residential growth. 

 

  • Staff Report from the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning on Development Pipeline 2023 (May 29, 2024).

Toronto is growing with strong development prospects helping to bring more people and jobs into the City.

  • The Development Pipeline is an essential tool used by the City of Toronto that provides a comprehensive overview of all development projects – proposed, approved, under construction, and built – over the past five years.
  • The Development Pipeline demonstrates the diversity and geographic distribution of both residential and non-residential development in Toronto, providing opportunities to accommodate future employment and population growth across the city.
  • The 2023 Development Pipeline is the largest five-year pipeline recorded to date, with more than 800,000 residential units and approximately 13.9 million square metres of non-residential gross floor area.
  • If all the residential units captured in the 2023 Development Pipeline were completed and occupied, enough housing would be provided to accommodate an estimated additional 1.12 million people over Toronto’s 2023 population.
  • The magnitude of proposed development underscores the importance of comprehensive long-range planning to manage growth, infrastructure and service delivery effectively.
  • Toronto is playing an increasingly important role delivering regional housing supply, accommodating nearly half of all new housing completions in the Greater Toronto Area between 2019 and 2023. This represents a doubling of Toronto’s contribution to regional housing completion over the past two decades.

 Key figures (between January 1, 2019 and December 31, 2023):

  • Total proposed residential units: 800,889.
  • Total non-residential gross floor area: 13,958,670 square metres.
  • Average number of units approved per year, relating to Rezoning and Official Plan Amendments: 38,428.
  • Average number of units approved per year, relating to Notice of Approval Conditions (NOAC) or Statement of Approval on Site Plan Control applications: 21,534.
  • Average number of units built per year: 17,576.
  • Potential population increase accommodates an additional 1.12 million people over Toronto’s 2023 population.
  • Percentage of residential units not yet built: 87 per cent.
  • Total Industrial gross floor area: 1,736,850 square metres.
  • Share of GTA housing completions by Toronto, as recorded by CMHC: 49 per cent.

The map below shows proposed units in development projects with activity between January 1, 2019 and December 31, 2023. Built Projects are those which became ready for occupancy and/or were completed. Active projects are those which have been approved, for which building permits have been applied or have been issued, and/or those which are under construction. Projects under review have not yet been approved or refused, or are under appeal.

The technology to convert the maps on this page to an accessible format is not currently available. These maps may not be compatible with screen reader software. If you are unable to access these maps please contact Hailey Toft, City Planning, cityplanning@toronto.ca, 416-392-8343.

City of Toronto Proposed Residential Development

This map shows residential projects as graduated dots with their size based on the number of units they contain. Residential projects in all statuses are concentrated in Downtown, the Centres and along the Avenues throughout the city. For more information, contact Hailey Toft at 416-392-9787 or hailey.toft@toronto.ca.

The map below shows proposed non-residential GFA in development projects with activity between January 1, 2019 and December 31, 2023. Built Projects are those which became ready for occupancy and/or were completed. Active projects are those which have been approved, for which building permits have been applied or have been issued, and/or those which are under construction. Projects under review have not yet been approved or refused, or are under appeal.

The technology to convert the maps on this page to an accessible format is not currently available. These maps may not be compatible with screen reader software. If you are unable to access these maps please contact Hailey Toft, City Planning, cityplanning@toronto.ca, 416-392-8343.

City of Toronto Proposed Non-Residential Development

This map shows non-residential projects as graduated hexagons with their size based on the amount of non-residential GFA they propose. For more information, contact Hailey Toft at 416-392-9787 or hailey.toft@toronto.ca.

Employment Areas outside of Downtown, Centres, Avenues, and Other Mixed Use Areas only. All Other Areas in this figure excludes Employment Areas.

Toronto’s Official Plan came into force in June 2006 and has subsequently undergone a number of thematic amendments to bring it into conformity with the Growth Plan and the Provincial Policy Statement. The Official Plan is the guide for development in the city over the coming decades. Its central geographic theme is to direct growth to appropriate areas given their access to transit and other community services and facilities and away from the city’s stable residential neighbourhoods and green spaces.

The locations recognized as being most appropriate for growth are those identified in the Official Plan’s Urban Structure Map as Avenues, Centres and the Downtown as well as other areas in the city designated as Mixed Use Areas and Employment Areas.

Emerging large-scale projects outside of Downtown and Urban Growth Centres are increasingly evident in the 2023 Pipeline. The Bulletin describes the trend towards mall redevelopments and Transit Oriented Communities which collectively contain 102,425 proposed residential units and 3,958,000 m² of non-residential gross floor area. In addition, the Pipeline also revealed smaller-scale intensification happening outside of growth management areas across the city.

Despite this emerging trend, most development activity continues to occur in growth management areas. Seventy-nine per cent of new residential development is proposed in areas currently targeted for intensification by the City’s Official Plan. Eighty-four per cent of new non-residential development is proposed in areas targeted for intensification by the City’s Official Plan including Employment Areas.

This bar chart shows the percentage of residential units that are proposed in the Growth Management Areas of the city's Official Plan and the percentage of non-residential GFA that is proposed in the Growth Management Areas of the city's Official Plan, including Employment Areas by Pipeline Status (Built, Active, and Under Review). There are 73% of the units in projects Under Review, 85% of the units in Active projects, and 88% of the units in Built projects located in growth management areas. There is 74% of the units in projects Under Review, 89% of the units in Active projects, and 91% of the units in Built projects located in growth management areas.