Average waiting time for public housing flat in Hong Kong rises to 6.1 years, highest in more than 2 decades
- Figure released by Housing Authority marks longest waiting period since 1998
- Wait is more than double the government’s target of three years
The wait is more than double the government’s target of three years and has grown longer in recent years, hitting 5.1 years in 2018 and hovering around 5.4 to 5.5 years until June 2020. It then continued to gradually increase, reaching a record of six years in December 2021.
The data from the Housing Authority showed there were 147,500 general applications for public rental flats as of the end of March, with the average waiting time reaching a 24-year high of 6.1 years.
The average wait for a single elderly person was 4.1 years during the same period, accounting for an increase of 1.2 months over the last quarter.
The Housing Department attributed the rise to the phased intake of a large number of applicants at several big public housing projects, such as Queen’s Hill Estate in Fanling, Hoi Tat Estate and Pak Tin Estate in Sham Shui Po, in the first quarter of 2022. It said the latest figure reflected the residents’ waiting period.
Cleresa Wong Pie-yue, chairman of the Housing Authority’s subsidised housing committee, said the waiting time was slightly affected because more than 3,000 flats had been lent to the government as isolation facilities. The intake is expected to start in phases between late May and mid-June.