HONG KONG – The average waiting time for those applying for Hong Kong’s subsidized public rental housing has dropped to 4.7 years, 0.4 years down from the last quarter, marking the lowest record in over eight years, according to the city's Housing Bureau.

The latest quarterly Composite Waiting Time for Subsidized Rental Housing shows that compared with the highest level of 6.1 years before the current-term government took office, the composite waiting time has been shortened by nearly 1.5 years, and has fallen below five years for the first time.

This figure is calculated based on general applicants – family and elderly one-person applicants – that were housed in public rental housing (PRH) or light public housing (LPH) in the past 12 months as of end-March 2026, the bureau said in a statement on Thursday.

In the first quarter of this year, the bureau has arranged about 8,400 general applicants to be housed in PRH or LPH. The units included about 1,200 newly completed PRH flats, about 3,300 recovered PRH flats, and about 3,900 LPH units.

“Nearly half (47 percent) of them were housed in LPH units, which is significantly higher than the proportion in the last quarter (16 percent)," said a spokesman for the Housing Bureau.

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Official data show the average waiting time of general applicants who were housed in LPH in the past 12 months is three years.

Meanwhile, the waiting time for PRH units in the urban districts in the past 12 months was about six years, while the waiting time for LPH units in the New Territories was only about two years.

“We hope that families in need will make the most appropriate decision for their family members, particularly for the health of elderly members and the growth of children," said the spokesman.

Since the first LPH project began allocation in March 2025, the special administrative region government’s overall supply of subsidized rental housing has risen to about 7,500 units per quarter, which is around double the average quarterly supply of 3,500 units during the three years before the current-term government took office, according to the bureau.

As at end-March 2026, there were about 103,400 general applications for PRH, and about 8 1,100 non-elderly one-person applications under the Quota & Points System.

The bureau said compared with the highest level of 156,400 cases and 143,700 cases of general applications and non-elderly one-person applications, the number of applications reduced significantly by over 30 percent and over 40 percent, respectively.

Among them, the number of non-elderly one-person applicants aged below 30 recorded a sharp decline of about 60 percent over the 10-year period, from about 71,300 at end-March 2016 to about 29,500 at end-March 2026.

For the next five years from 2026-27 onwards, the overall public housing production, including LPH, will be about 196,000 units, 80 percent higher than when the current-term government took office, the bureau said, adding that about 115,000 PRH flats will be completed, reaching the peak in supply.

In respect of LPH, about 9,650 have been fully occupied as at the first quarter of 2026; while about 20,150 and 200 units will be successively completed in the remainder of 2026 and early 2027, gradually attaining the target of completing the construction of about 30,000 LPH units by 2027-28.

The composite waiting time will move towards the target of reducing it to 4.5 years in 2026-27, the bureau added.