Average public housing wait time in Hong Kong rises to 5.6 years

Hong Kong’s average waiting time for a public rental flat rose to 5.6 years as of December, marking an increase for three consecutive quarters, as the Housing Bureau attributed the increase to high demand for flats in urban areas. According to figures announced on Thursday, the latest average waiting time for general applicants – family or elderly households – over the past 12 months was higher than 5.5 years recorded in September and 5.4 years in June. The figure was 5.3 years, as of March 2025. Between October and December, the bureau allocated 3,600 newly completed homes and 3,800 recovered flats to general applicants. Of the 7,400 general applicants placed in public rental housing, 70 per cent were housed in “Urban” and “Extended Urban” districts. “These districts are very popular districts among applicants, thus the waiting time for [such districts] is about two years longer than that for the New Territories,” the bureau said. “Their longer waiting time has been taken into account in the latest waiting time.” Popular districts include Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, Sha Tin, Tsuen Wan and Tung Chung, among other areas. Districts under the separate New Territories category include Tuen Mun, Yuen Long, Tin Shui Wai, Sheung Shui, Fanling and Tai Po. The average waiting time for single elderly applicants has increased to 3.9 years, up from 3.7 years in September, and 3.5 years in June. The bureau stressed that the government was “achieving policy outcomes”, as many applicants with longer waiting times were gradually being housed. To address the short-term shortage of public housing, the government in 2022 announced a light public housing initiative, under which temporary flats would be built for applicants who have been waiting for a public rental home for at least three years. The government built about 9,500 light public flats last year and will complete a further 20,300 this year, with the aim of providing 30,000 homes by 2027. The bureau said on Thursday that, when including light public flats, the average composite waiting time for general applicants seeking a public rental flat was 5.1 years as of December. Authorities allocated around 1,400 light public flats between October and December, while receiving 27,700 applications for light public housing. The average waiting time for general applicants housed in such homes was 3.2 years. It added that it had received fewer public rental housing applications, with about 106,300 general applicants as of December, a drop of more than 30 per cent from its peak in September 2020. The number of non-elderly single applicants was 81,500 as of December, down by more than 40 per cent from the peak recorded 11 years ago. The bureau also said public housing allocations had outpaced new applications for two consecutive years, thanks to the increase in public rental and subsidised sale housing projects, as well as enhanced efforts to combat tenancy abuse. The government allocated 20,700 public rental flats to general applicants last year, surpassing the number of new applications received by nearly 6,300. In the current financial year ending in March, the Housing Authority – the city’s main public housing provider – is expected to build a total of 16,300 rental and subsidised sale flats. It constructed more than 23,000 homes in the previous year.