Builtie Construction Permit Index, September 2026: 101.5

The Builtie Construction Permit Index stood at 101.5 in September 2026 (base = 100: each market's average month in the year to September 2025), up 4.9% on September 2025 and down 1.1% on August 2026. Builtie built it from the municipal building permits of 15 North American markets whose feeds passed its publish rule every month since January 2025: 16,228 permits were issued across them in September 2026.

September 2026 at a glance

The three months to September 2026 averaged 102.5, up 1.1% on the three months before and up 1.7% on the same three months of 2025. Seasonal swings are in these numbers: permits dip from November to February in most of these cities, so the year-over-year change is the cleaner read.

The composite, month by month

Year-over-year changes start in January 2026, the first month whose year-earlier month every panel market has on record.

Every market's index

Each market is indexed to its own average month in the base year, so 100 means an ordinary base-year month for that city, whatever its size. Markets marked * have their own index but are not in the composite (see the methodology).

Biggest risers and fallers, September 2026

Against September 2025, by permits issued:

• Kitchener: +30.1% on September 2025, 190 permits against 146
• Airdrie: +30.0% on September 2025, 78 permits against 60
• Austin: +24.1% on September 2025, 2,375 permits against 1,914
• Nashville: +17.4% on September 2025, 830 permits against 707
• Red Deer: +15.6% on September 2025, 52 permits against 45

Falling furthest:

• San Antonio: -71.7% on September 2025, 43 permits against 152 (September 2025 was a spike, 152 permits against a median month of 73) (September 2026 is well under the median month and may rise as late permits are added)
• Little Rock: -61.2% on September 2025, 45 permits against 116 (September 2026 is well under the median month and may rise as late permits are added)
• North Little Rock: -38.7% on September 2025, 65 permits against 106
• Fayetteville, Arkansas: -31.7% on September 2025, 69 permits against 101 (September 2026 is well under the median month and may rise as late permits are added)
• Grande Prairie: -31.1% on September 2025, 115 permits against 167 (September 2025 was a spike, 167 permits against a median month of 93)

Small feeds move the most: a city issuing 70 permits a month can swing 20% on a handful of permits, so read the larger markets for the trend. Miami-Dade and Austin issue a permit per trade on a job, which makes them large in the composite; their counts are permits, not projects.

What was permitted in September 2026

Across the panel, the largest group was residential renovation, 55% of the permits Builtie could classify by building type and work. Permits with no building type, demolitions and unclassified work are in the index but not in this table.

Methodology

Source. Every number is a count of building permits issued, by issue date, taken from each city's or county's own municipal permit feed and read by Builtie on October 9, 2026. The index uses no estimates and no surveys: a month is the permits in the city's feed for it.

Feed scope. San Antonio's feed carries three permit types only: new commercial buildings, carports and accessory buildings. It is not the City's full permit count, so read its index as those permit types alone.

What counts. Every permit issued in the month, of any building type and any kind of work, new builds, renovations, additions and demolitions alike. A permit is not a project: one project can carry several permits, and New York City, Austin and Miami-Dade issue a separate permit for each trade on a job.

Publish rule. A month counts only when it has 40 or more permits and at least half the market's median month. A month under that is a gap in the city's publishing, not a slow month, and no change is printed against it.

Base. Each market's average publishable month from October 2024 to September 2025 = 100. Most feeds start in January 2025, so for those markets the base is January to September 2025; Fayetteville, Little Rock and Overland Park have the full twelve months. A market needs at least 8 base months to be indexed.

Composite. A fixed panel of the 15 markets whose every month from January 2025 to September 2026 passes the publish rule: Airdrie; Austin; Calgary; Chicago; Fayetteville, Arkansas; Kitchener; Little Rock; Los Angeles; Miami-Dade; Nashville; North Little Rock; Overland Park; San Antonio; Seattle; Vancouver. The composite is permit-weighted: the panel's permits in a month against the sum of the panel's base months. Its year-over-year change is therefore just the panel's permits against the same month a year earlier.

Not in the September 2026 composite, and why:

• Toronto: Builtie's Toronto feed is the City's list of active permits, so a permit drops out of it once it closes. Older months therefore hold fewer permits than were issued, and a year-over-year change would overstate growth. Toronto gets no index until the feed keeps closed permits; its monthly counts are on the Toronto permit pages.
• New York City: the feed starts in February 2026, so there is no base year and no year-earlier month yet.
• Fort Worth: the feed starts in July 2025, so only three base-year months are on record.
• Tulsa: several months fall under 40 permits, below the publish rule.
• Broken Arrow: almost every month is under 40 permits.
• St. Louis: the feed joined in September 2026.
• Windsor, Ontario: every month is under 40 permits, and the City publishes with a delay.
• Thunder Bay: most months are under 40 permits, September 2026 included.
• Grande Prairie: March 2025, January 2026 and February 2026 fell below the publish rule, and the composite takes only markets with every month complete since January 2025.
• Red Deer: February 2025, October 2025, December 2025 and February 2026 fell below the publish rule, and the composite takes only markets with every month complete since January 2025.

Revisions. Cities add late permits to recent months, so the latest month can rise slightly when the data is read again. Each release restates the whole series from a fresh read; this one was released October 15, 2026.

How to cite

Builtie Construction Permit Index, September 2026, builtie.com/construction-permit-index/. Please link the page when you quote a number.

Month by month in each market: Airdrie, Austin, Calgary, Chicago, Fayetteville, Fort Worth, Grande Prairie, Kitchener, Little Rock, Los Angeles, Miami-Dade, Nashville, New York City, North Little Rock, Overland Park, Red Deer, San Antonio, Seattle, Toronto, Tulsa, Vancouver.

Plans

Builtie's Starter plan is $79 per seat per month (CAD) for 20 projects; Growth is $99 for 50 projects and adds LinkedIn and email outreach. Opening a project spends one credit, and the decision makers inside it are included. The free trial runs 7 days with 10 projects. Plans and the Custom plan, where Builtie's team runs the outreach, are on the pricing page.

Frequently asked questions