Waiting period for public rental flats hits six-year low

Wallis Wang

The waiting period for public rental housing at the end of last year has dropped to a six-year low of 5.3 years, according to Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu.

When he took office in 2022, Lee said, the waiting time was up to 6.1 years.

"The government has successfully reduced the waiting time by 0.8 years to 5.3 years, representing a 13 percent decrease and a reduction of nine-and-a-half months," he said.

That, he added, brings residents of subdivided flats closer to savings of about HK$30,000 in rent while enjoying an improved living environment.

Lee is confident the waiting period can be further reduced to four and a half years in the next five years.

According to the Housing Authority, the average waiting period last year fell to its lowest level since 2018.

It also said the average waiting period for single elderly applicants edged down 0.1 years to 3.4 years, the lowest in four years.

Ryan Ip Man-ki, co-head of the Public Policy Institute at Our Hong Kong Foundation, said the shorter waits reflect a decrease in the number of people in the queue and improvements housing turnover.

Recovery of public flats, he said, has been rising over the past decade, surpassing 10,000 annually in the past two years, thanks to efforts to fight housing abuse.