How long do building permits take in San Francisco's Financial District/South Beach neighborhood?

In the Financial District/South Beach neighborhood of San Francisco, of the 2,182 building permits filed from October 2025 through September 2026 that have been issued, half were issued within 6 days, up from 3 days a year earlier. Of the 1,631 permits filed from October 2023 through September 2024 that have reached final sign-off, half did so within 99 days of being issued, down from 107 days the year before.

From the city’s permit records, by the quarter each permit was filed. Data as of 8 October 2026. How to cite this · How this is calculated

How long until a permit is issued, and until final sign-off?

This chart as an image (SVG), with its title, source and date, free to embed under CC BY 4.0.

At a glance

Stage	Permits filed	Permits counted	Median days	Counted a year earlier	Median a year earlier
Filed to permit issued	October 2025 through September 2026	2,182 issued	6	2,400 issued	3
Permit issued to final sign-off	October 2023 through September 2024	1,631 finished	99	1,609 finished	107

“Counted” is the permits the median was taken over: those filed in the window that have been issued, or that have reached final sign-off. The first stage covers the last four complete quarters, since most permits are issued within the year. The second covers the last four quarters that ended two or more years ago, so that most of their permits have had time to finish. Citywide, the median was 0 days to issue and 98 days from issue to final over the same quarters.

Every quarter since 2000

Quarter filed	Filed	Issued	Median days to issue	Slowest 10%	Reached final	Median days issue to final	Slowest 10%	Never finaled	Settled
2026-Q4	54	14	4	5	0			0	too recent
2026-Q3	563	408	6	35	60	28	53	0	too recent
2026-Q2	566	530	9	61	218	65	122	0	too recent
2026-Q1	596	558	4	39	358	77	172	0	too recent
2025-Q4	731	686	5	66	470	91	233	0	too recent
2025-Q3	708	669	6	56	496	84	250	0	too recent
2025-Q2	675	654	2	57	494	89	300	0	too recent
2025-Q1	588	576	2	56	468	93	350	0	too recent
2024-Q4	521	501	2	61	399	94	244	0	too recent
2024-Q3	565	533	3	61	421	96	341	0	yes
2024-Q2	602	578	2	62	451	95	409	0	yes
2024-Q1	511	489	1	53	386	90	318	0	yes
2023-Q4	491	471	3	76	374	120	368	2	yes
2023-Q3	519	494	3	56	394	119	347	99	yes
2023-Q2	571	535	3	76	424	84	415	109	yes
2023-Q1	462	436	1	70	330	102	332	101	yes
2022-Q4	647	584	2	96	465	117	386	134	yes
2022-Q3	712	667	3	78	539	116	408	142	yes
2022-Q2	741	686	2	68	549	105	374	150	yes
2022-Q1	633	602	1	84	499	116	447	103	yes
2021-Q4	637	611	3	70	483	124	457	128	yes
2021-Q3	599	569	1	90	458	112	463	122	yes
2021-Q2	624	598	26	100	493	126	405	103	yes
2021-Q1	575	537	35	136	410	83	418	137	yes
2020-Q4	730	688	45	155	543	112	456	148	yes
2020-Q3	810	748	21	138	557	114	413	219	yes
2020-Q2	224	202	40	160	130	116	482	89	yes
2020-Q1	906	822	0	112	565	185	485	270	yes
2019-Q4	1,191	1,104	2	70	775	194	623	337	yes
2019-Q3	1,295	1,236	1	50	846	138	577	373	yes
2019-Q2	1,252	1,192	1	40	842	140	650	356	yes
2019-Q1	1,204	1,138	1	49	777	126	706	366	yes
2018-Q4	1,176	1,130	2	63	802	130	714	311	yes
2018-Q3	1,304	1,249	3	55	854	120	628	381	yes
2018-Q2	1,289	1,219	2	65	892	127	734	327	yes
2018-Q1	1,185	1,113	2	55	812	128	568	304	yes
2017-Q4	1,049	1,006	1	66	742	125	571	252	yes
2017-Q3	1,029	977	1	48	661	101	484	303	yes
2017-Q2	1,052	1,013	1	60	720	121	457	286	yes
2017-Q1	964	929	0	50	673	81	405	252	yes
2016-Q4	1,053	1,015	1	56	735	104	440	281	yes
2016-Q3	1,044	991	1	54	704	99	424	289	yes
2016-Q2	1,122	1,080	1	62	775	106	423	302	yes
2016-Q1	1,199	1,138	1	56	822	110	507	317	yes
2015-Q4	1,255	1,184	1	76	845	122	511	333	yes
2015-Q3	1,272	1,199	2	57	884	148	477	305	yes
2015-Q2	1,130	1,077	1	61	774	139	482	294	yes
2015-Q1	974	939	1	56	667	124	506	268	yes
2014-Q4	952	900	1	59	644	98	529	248	yes
2014-Q3	914	866	0	46	598	84	505	255	yes
2014-Q2	1,199	1,127	3	74	820	118	452	305	yes
2014-Q1	855	815	0	42	614	83	379	196	yes
2013-Q4	1,067	1,020	1	58	774	87	476	243	yes
2013-Q3	959	919	1	44	662	95	420	248	yes
2013-Q2	960	921	1	56	683	114	514	231	yes
2013-Q1	825	776	1	40	548	95	346	223	yes
2012-Q4	870	824	1	57	575	88	440	236	yes
2012-Q3	967	919	1	59	608	104	426	289	yes
2012-Q2	956	910	1	64	639	96	351	253	yes
2012-Q1	888	849	0	51	606	79	380	229	yes
2011-Q4	860	808	1	45	615	74	358	184	yes
2011-Q3	883	844	0	40	624	82	393	204	yes
2011-Q2	763	723	0	44	521	107	372	194	yes
2011-Q1	712	684	0	43	523	91	375	156	yes
2010-Q4	841	810	1	38	607	119	404	183	yes
2010-Q3	754	716	1	38	488	105	354	218	yes
2010-Q2	656	628	0	37	460	97	356	144	yes
2010-Q1	577	553	0	22	376	90	350	155	yes
2009-Q4	555	536	0	30	380	94	269	133	yes
2009-Q3	678	660	0	26	492	109	344	145	yes
2009-Q2	822	803	0	21	621	90	291	163	yes
2009-Q1	805	783	0	15	589	76	337	171	yes
2008-Q4	776	750	0	19	522	113	349	203	yes
2008-Q3	937	905	0	14	613	136	301	235	yes
2008-Q2	960	926	0	12	638	126	336	211	yes
2008-Q1	899	862	0	20	593	101	356	192	yes
2007-Q4	1,022	989	0	21	651	120	360	190	yes
2007-Q3	1,017	989	0	11	657	134	307	185	yes
2007-Q2	1,072	1,057	0	28	706	127	333	215	yes
2007-Q1	881	868	0	40	580	126	317	131	yes
2006-Q4	868	858	0	41	527	126	337	119	yes
2006-Q3	980	949	0	51	572	128	312	115	yes
2006-Q2	909	898	0	43	524	126	351	101	yes
2006-Q1	899	885	0	43	517	99	316	119	yes
2005-Q4	955	932	0	47	553	118	349	150	yes
2005-Q3	1,013	994	0	47	573	131	400	156	yes
2005-Q2	996	972	0	52	627	118	268	145	yes
2005-Q1	834	812	0	54	553	111	296	110	yes
2004-Q4	783	756	0	54	488	128	291	126	yes
2004-Q3	893	873	0	56	561	108	349	134	yes
2004-Q2	1,001	971	0	61	669	117	351	105	yes
2004-Q1	769	753	0	57	465	124	316	108	yes
2003-Q4	850	835	10	53	532	128	363	93	yes
2003-Q3	821	807	10	55	501	114	387	111	yes
2003-Q2	726	713	7	52	464	98	357	69	yes
2003-Q1	726	701	6	43	438	90	269	73	yes
2002-Q4	669	643	11	63	392	100	276	83	yes
2002-Q3	729	694	0	42	413	108	303	49	yes
2002-Q2	677	657	0	56	380	108	318	55	yes
2002-Q1	603	576	0	50	306	99	316	25	yes
2001-Q4	714	679	8	55	368	123	257	28	yes
2001-Q3	740	710	4	68	372	141	386	16	yes
2001-Q2	907	862	6	55	449	143	331	16	yes
2001-Q1	958	907	8	69	472	126	391	21	yes
2000-Q4	900	856	7	56	454	156	404	15	yes
2000-Q3	1,060	1,010	8	63	529	172	395	10	yes
2000-Q2	1,289	1,221	12	72	610	222	496	20	yes
2000-Q1	1,236	1,167	14	65	544	217	539	20	yes

A blank median means fewer than 5 permits behind it: issued permits for the first stage, and for the second, finished permits whose final is dated after their issue (a permit never issued has no span). “Slowest 10%” is the 90th percentile: one permit in ten took at least this long. Download the table as CSV or JSON; both carry the source, license and data date.

What the numbers leave out

17,053 of the 91,987 building permits filed since 2000 (19%) have no final sign-off 3 years after they were issued or, if never issued, filed. A median over finished permits understates the real wait: the permits that never finish are not in it. Citywide, 798 of 801,386 permits since 2000 (0%) name no neighborhood and count in the city's figures only. Inspection records are not yet included: “final sign-off” is the city’s own completion date on the permit.

Project types in San Francisco's Financial District/South Beach neighborhood

Shown apart, with their own page here: kitchen remodel (3,060 filed, 2,343 finished; contractors); bathroom remodel (2,943 filed, 2,280 finished; contractors); stairs (1,642 filed, 1,122 finished; contractors); deck (176 filed, 96 finished; contractors); roof deck (108 filed, 65 finished; contractors); pergola or trellis (62 filed, 30 finished; contractors). Other types: 85,930 permits.

Nearby neighborhoods

Chinatown, Nob Hill, Tenderloin; all of San Francisco; every neighborhood compared.

How this is calculated

Approved means the city issued the permit: the permit’s issue date. The first stage counts days from the filing date to the issue date, over permits issued on or after they were filed. Final sign-off means the city’s own status for the permit is “complete”, with its completion date; this site does not yet read inspection records, so the inspection date is not a separate stage. The second stage counts days from the issue date to the completion date, over permits that have reached it.

Permits are grouped by the quarter they were filed. A quarter’s median counts only its permits that have finished the stage, so recent quarters look faster than they will end up: their slow permits have not finished yet. Quarters that ended two or more years ago are marked settled; the rest are shaded in the chart. The headline’s first stage uses the last four complete quarters; its second uses the last four settled quarters.

The median is the middle permit: half took less, half more. The slowest 10% is the 90th percentile. A median needs at least 5 permits behind it, or it is left out. A project type is shown apart within a neighborhood only when it has 30 or more finished permits there; the rest are “other types”.

Never finaled means no final sign-off three years after the permit was issued (or filed, if never issued), and not expired, cancelled, withdrawn, revoked, disapproved, denied or suspended (the site’s “expired or cancelled” outcome). About a quarter of permits citywide end this way; often the work was done and nobody called for the final inspection. These permits are in the counts and not in the medians.

A permit’s neighborhood is the Analysis Neighborhood the city writes on the permit record (the official set of 41). Permits with none are counted citywide only; the page says how many. “Nearby” neighborhoods are the three nearest by the center of their permits. The site reloads the city’s data every night; permits filed since 1 January 2000 are included. The placement of a permit, its dates and its status are the city’s; the grouping and the words are this site’s. How to read these records.