Wait time for Hong Kong public rental flat still at 5.3 years, but applications plummet
Housing Authority says figures for first quarter due to new supply and higher turnover of homes, with 4,700 applicants allocated flats
The average waiting time for a Hong Kong public rental flat remained at 5.3 years in the first quarter of 2025 amid a significant drop in application numbers, which authorities attributed to fresh supply and higher turnover of homes in the city.
The city’s largest public housing provider, the Housing Authority, also revealed on Wednesday that about 4,700 general applicants – families or elderly households – were allocated flats between January and March.
Among them, a total of 2,300 households were allocated new flats in Hin Fat Estate in Tuen Mun and Pak Tin Estate in Sham Shui Po, while the remaining families were housed in refurbished homes recovered from tenants, including those who surrendered their properties after purchasing subsidised flats or were evicted due to tenancy abuse.
As of March, the city had about 116,400 general applicants for public rental homes, marking a 26 per cent drop from the peak of 156,400 cases in September 2020.
“Following the gradual completion of new public housing projects and the Housing Department’s enhanced effectiveness in combating tenancy abuse, coupled with intakes of [subsidised sale flat projects], a number of public rental housing tenants vacated their flats as a result of the purchase of subsidised sale flats,” the authority said.
“[It] expedited the turnover of public rental flats [and] the number of general applicants has therefore decreased.”