In order to fill the short-term gap of public housing supply and improve the living conditions and quality of life of people with pressing housing needs at the soonest, the Chief Executive (CE) announced in 2022 Policy Address that the Light Public Housing (LPH) will be built under a Government-led approach. The target is to complete the construction of about 30 000 units by 2027-28 for citizens with pressing housing needs, and the primary target group is applicants who have been on the waiting list for public rental housing (PRH) for three years or more, with priority given to family applicants. In order to reflect more comprehensively the effectiveness of the Government in improving the living conditions of the public through providing different types of subsidised rental housing, the CE also announced in 2022 Policy Address that Composite Waiting Time for Subsidised Rental Housing (CWT) would be introduced to calculate the composite waiting time* of PRH general applicants (i.e. family and elderly one-person applicants) for receiving the first offer of PRH or LPH units.
As at end-September 2025, the CWT for general applicants that were housed to PRH or LPH in the past 12 months has maintained at 5.1 years, which is again the lowest record since the first quarter of 2018. Compared with the highest level of 6.1 years before the current-term Government took office, the CWT has been shortened by a full year.
In the third quarter of 2025, as many as about 7 900 general applicants were housed to PRH or LPH, including about 1 600 newly completed PRH units, about 4 000 recovered PRH flats, and about 2 300 LPH units. Among the general applicants housed to PRH, over 85% (87%) were housed to Urban district and Extended Urban district, which are very popular districts among applicants. However, the waiting time for Urban district and Extended Urban district is about two years longer than that for the New Territories, thus their longer waiting time has been taken into account in the latest CWT. Despite the huge housing supply of around 8 000 units in this quarter, the CWT has maintained at 5.1 years as in the last quarter. On the other hand, given the waiting time of general applicants housed to LPH is obviously shorter, the overall CWT has managed to stay at 5.1 years in the third quarter of 2025. In fact, since the first LPH project began allocation in the first quarter of 2025, the waiting time of general applicants who were housed to LPH is only 3.1 years on average. This fully highlights that LPH has not only improved living conditions and quality of life of low-income families, but also played a key role in shortening the waiting time for PRH.
The LPH project at Choi Hing Road in Ngau Tau Kok, being the first LPH project in urban area, has been fully occupied in early September 2025. Among the residents who have moved into the project, about 70% of them had been living in inadequate housing before (e.g. sub-divided units, rooftop houses and bedspaces, etc.). With the gradual completion of various PRH and LPH projects, the CWT will in turn decline, reflecting that PRH applicants will be allocated to adequate housing more quickly. Not only does this immediately help those families overcome their housing difficulties, but also significantly relieves their rental burden, thereby commencing a new family life and even starting to accumulate their own savings.
We will continue building PRH and take forward the remaining LPH projects proactively. It is anticipated that about 9 500 LPH units will be gradually completed for intake in 2025, moving towards the target of completing the construction of about 30 000 LPH units by 2027-28. The target of reducing the CWT to 4.5 years by 2026-27 remains unchanged.
*CWT refers to the average of the waiting time of those general applicants (i.e. family applicants and elderly one-person applicants) who were housed to PRH or LPH in the past 12 months. It is not applicable to non-elderly one-person applicants under the Quota and Points System. Waiting time refers to the time taken between registration for PRH and first flat offer, excluding any frozen period during the application period (e.g. when the applicant has not yet fulfilled the residence requirement; the applicant has requested to put his/her application on hold pending arrival of family members for family reunion; the applicant is imprisoned, etc). If applicants take into account their waiting time under the Quota and Points System or their frozen period, they may perceive a longer waiting time than the CWT as announced by the Housing Bureau.
The LPH comprises a total of 13 projects, among which the first LPH project at Yau Pok Road in Yuen Long, providing about 2 100 units, was fully completed in mid-June 2025. The second LPH project at Choi Hing Road in Ngau Tau Kok, also being the first LPH project in urban area, providing 2 290 units, was also fully completed in early September 2025.
The Housing Bureau (HB) has so far awarded six LPH operation and management contracts. In addition, HB is now evaluating tenders for the seventh and eighth operation and management contracts, both covering Olympic Avenue in Kai Tak (Phase 2). HB will continue to invite tenders for the remaining operation and management contracts gradually this year and next year according to the works progress of each project.
As at end-September 2025, we received a total of about 27 360 LPH applications. HB will continue to launch the remaining applications according to the works progress of each LPH project gradually.
As mentioned above, in the third quarter of 2025, about 5 600 general applicants were housed to PRH, significantly increased by over 80% as compared with that of 3 000 general applicants in the last quarter. Among which about 730 were allocated to elderly one-person applicants. In the same quarter, about 310 non-elderly one-person applicants under the Quota and Points System were housed to PRH.
Among the general applicants who were housed to PRH in the third quarter of 2025, more than 85% (87%) were applicants housed to Urban district and Extended Urban district, which are very popular districts among applicants. However, the waiting time for Urban district and Extended Urban district is about two years longer than that for the New Territories, thus their longer waiting time has been taken into account in the latest CWT. Therefore, as at end-September 2025, the average waiting time for general applicants who were housed to PRH in the past 12 months has increased slightly by 0.1 years to 5.5 years. Among which, the average waiting time for elderly one-person applicants has increased by 0.2 years to 3.7 years as compared with that of last quarter. This situation actually reflects that we are achieving policy outcomes: many general applicants for Urban district and Extended Urban district with longer waiting time were gradually housed to PRH.
In addition to waiting time, the number of applicants on the waiting list is also a reference reflecting the effectiveness of public housing policies. With our multi-pronged approach to expedite the turnover of PRH flats, the number of PRH general applicants has further decreased. As at end-September 2025, there were about 111 600 general applications for PRH, and about 85 700 non-elderly one-person applications under the Quota and Points System. As compared with the highest level of 156 400 cases (as at end-September 2020) and 143 700 cases (as at end-December 2015) of general applications and non-elderly one-person applications, the application number reduced significantly by around 30% and 40% respectively, clearly demonstrating that the PRH waiting queue is being reduced. Compared to the number in last quarter (as at end-June 2025), the number of general applications of this quarter (as at end-September 2025) has decreased by 4%. We have also observed that many general applicants for Urban district and Extended Urban district with longer waiting time were gradually housed to PRH, which also reflects that our policies are taking effect progressively.
In order to meet the public’s housing needs, the Government will continue to strive to provide public housing of more than 30 000 units per year on average in the next five years (i.e. from 2026-27 to 2030-31), the highest in the past 24 years. With the PRH applicants with longer waiting time being housed to PRH, the short-term fluctuations in the average waiting time for PRH reflect a positive sign, proving that we are effectively tackling the long-standing backlog of waiting cases and laying the foundation for significant improvements in the future. In the long run, the average waiting time for PRH will clearly trend in a positive direction.