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Despite a small uptick last quarter, the number of active cranes across Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) continued its year-long downward trajectory, according to the UTPro data service. With real estate sales still in a years-long slump, the declining number of cranes represents fewer new large-scale construction projects starting and progressing in Canada's largest urban area.
UrbanToronto’s UTPro crane data is updated daily. As of October 1, 2025, there were 250 active tower cranes in the GTHA, down from 272 on July 1. Toronto continues to anchor the region with 141 cranes (56%), followed by 32 in Peel Region, 30 in York Region, 27 in Halton Region, 14 in the City of Hamilton, and 6 in Durham Region.
This is the first time that York Region has had more cranes than Halton. In fact, this is the fourth quarter in a row that York Region has seen an increase in cranes; indeed, with 30 active cranes, York Region is the only region that has seen more crane activity this year than the same period last year, when it had 26. It is a modest increase, but an increase nonetheless.
Activity is spread across 172 projects, comprising of 248 buildings. This is a decline from 187 projects and 289 buildings last quarter, and down even more from 198 projects and 334 cranes from twelve months ago. Total GFA under construction is at 55.1 million square feet, down 18% from the 64.1 million square-feet under construction last year.
Despite York Region's increase in the number of cranes in the sky, the number of projects with a crane has declined from 18 in Q3 of 2024 to 17 today, indicating more cranes per project. Conversely, while Peel Region has seen a decline in the total number of cranes year over year, the number of projects with a crane has increased—from 17 last year to 19 today. Halton Region has stayed steady with 19 projects with an active crane, while Toronto and Durham have fewer projects: from 125 to 103 for Toronto, and from 12 to 8 for Durham.
Crane counts are a lagging indicator of growth; the current decline reflects decisions made about building and planning several quarters to years ago. While interest-rate expectations and policy settings have been moving modestly towards a more encouraging direction for the industry, it generally takes several quarters for those shifts to translate into on-site mobilization. As such, the current reading should be interpreted as confirmation of conditions in recent years rather than a verdict on the most recent macro news.
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UrbanToronto's research and data service, UTPro, provides comprehensive data on construction projects in the Greater Golden Horseshoe—from proposal through to completion. Other services include Instant Reports, downloadable snapshots based on location, and a daily subscription newsletter, New Development Insider, that tracks projects from initial application.
