San Francisco permit applications fell 18% this summer. Same-day issuance fell to 42%.
f2jc-ivnc), counted as distinct permit numbers, all statuses. Electrical permits from DataSF ftty-kx6y. Figures are from the August 2026 edition of the San Francisco Preconstruction Activity Index (extracted 2026-08-24); the row-level extracts were re-pulled 2026-09-17 and match the edition within two permits on every figure.Applications: the lowest month in two years
| Building-permit applications | 2025 | 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| May to July | 6,250 | 5,099 | -18.4% |
| July alone | 2,128 | 1,506 | -29.2% |
| Index reading (100 = flat) | 81.6 |
The 25-month series on the SF Index page ranges from 1,506 to 2,264 applications a month. July 2026 is the floor of it.
Both main lanes fell. Only one of them is a story.
July applications by permit type, 2025 against 2026:
| Category | Jul 2025 | Jul 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Over-the-counter alterations (type 8) | 1,942 | 1,393 | -28% |
| Plan-reviewed additions, alterations, repairs (type 3) | 94 | 75 | -20% |
| Sign, erect | 74 | 5 | |
| Demolitions | 3 | 2 | |
| New construction | 2 | 0 |
Both lanes down by a fifth to a quarter is the finding. The one that is not: among plan-reviewed filings, the median declared value went from $139,000 to $250,000. On 94 and 75 filings the confidence interval on that change runs from about minus $33,000 to plus $162,000 and includes zero, and declared values are self-reported and unaudited. It looks like a headline. It is noise.
Of what the city did issue, less of it was same-day
These figures cover permits actually issued in July, so they describe what came out of the queue, not what is still sitting in it.
| Permits issued in July | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Over-the-counter permits issued | 1,897 | 1,400 |
| Over-the-counter issued the same day it was filed | 59.1% | 41.7% |
| Over-the-counter, median days filed to issued | 0 | 3 |
| Plan-reviewed alterations, median days filed to issued | 159 | 190 |
Same-day issuance is the over-the-counter promise. Fewer than half of July's over-the-counter permits kept it. Plan-reviewed alterations that got issued had waited a month longer than the year before. The SF permit timeline guide has the full distribution by permit type.
A second dataset, same direction
The city tracks electrical permits in a separate file. They fell too: 1,654 filed in July 2025, 1,480 in July 2026, down 10.5%. Two filing systems, one direction. The data does not say why, and this page is not going to guess.
| Electrical permits filed (ftty-kx6y) | Count |
|---|---|
| July 2025 | 1,654 |
| July 2026 | 1,480 |
Thirteen of the fourteen neighborhoods that clear every screen fell
Fourteen San Francisco neighborhoods clear every screen the Index applies: enough prior-year volume to quote a percentage (at least 50 applications), a change of at least 15, and the same direction over the preceding six months. Thirteen of the fourteen fell.
| Neighborhood, applications May to July | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Bayview Hunters Point (steepest) | 240 | 150 |
| Outer Richmond (largest by count) | 352 | 246 |
| Financial District / South Beach | 646 | 539 |
| Sunset / Parkside | 482 | 415 |
| West of Twin Peaks | 418 | 333 |
| Mission | 376 | 307 |
| Inner Sunset | 247 | 179 |
| North Beach (the one increase) | 78 | 104 |
Four of the 41 analysis neighborhoods rose. Only three of those sit in the 33 with enough volume to quote a percentage. Visitacion Valley went 47 to 65, the biggest percentage rise in the city, on counts too small to lead with. All 41 are published with their counts, including the small areas most tables quietly drop; dropping them is how "three of 33" gets reported as if it were three of the city.
Check the rows yourself
Every table above has its rows published, re-pulled September 17 with the same filters the edition used. Same CC BY 4.0 licence as the tables: use them, cite the Index.
- Applications, May to July, both years (11,347 rows: permit number, dates, type, status, neighborhood, address, declared cost, description)
- Permits issued in July, both years, with days filed to issued and the same-day flag (3,657 rows)
- Electrical permits by month and the July rows (3,134)
- Reconciliation: published figure, fresh pull, delta and the manifest with the exact query per file
Questions people ask
Is this the number of permits issued or applied for?
Applications, counted by filed date, all statuses, unless a table says issued. The issuance table covers permits issued in July and measures the wait from filing to issuance for those permits only.
Why the deduplicated file and not the raw one?
A single permit can appear on several address rows in the raw file. DataSF publishes an official view deduplicated on primary address; the Index uses it and reconciles it against distinct permit numbers in the raw file every edition.
What does over-the-counter mean here?
Permit type 8 in the city's file: alterations that can be reviewed and issued at the counter without a full plan review. Same-day issuance is the share of those issued on the day they were filed.
Can I republish these tables?
Yes. The Index CSVs and the extracts are CC BY 4.0. Attribute to the PermitPipeline Preconstruction Activity Index with the edition date and the source URL.
Sources and downloads
San Francisco DBI building permits, deduplicated on primary address, f2jc-ivnc; electrical permits, ftty-kx6y. Tables: San Francisco Preconstruction Activity Index, August 2026 edition, methodology. CSVs: SF neighborhoods, monthly filings.