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-June 2026, the CWT for general applicants that were housed to PRH or LPH in the past 12 months is 4.8 years, despite a slight increase of 0.1 years as compared with the last quarter, it remains lower than the records between 2018 and 2025, continuing to maintain below 5.0 years. Compared with the highest level of 6.1 years before the current-term Government took office, the CWT has been shortened by 1.3 years.
In the second quarter of 2026, as many as about 4 400 general applicants were housed to PRH or LPH, including about 720 newly completed PRH units, about 2 400 recovered PRH flats, and about 1 300 LPH units. Among the general applicants housed to PRH and LPH units over the past 12 months, the proportion of those located in Urban district and Extended Urban district reached 74%, higher than the corresponding figure (69%) in the last quarter. The vast majority of recovered PRH units (reaching 81%) were located in Urban district and Extended Urban district. As the waiting time for Urban district and Extended Urban district is generally over a year longer than that for the New Territories, taking into account their longer waiting time in the calculation of the latest CWT has resulted in a slight increase of 0.1 years. On the other hand, the waiting time for general applicants housed to LPH over the past 12 months was about three years on average. Given that the waiting time for LPH general applicants is significantly shorter, it has effectively shortened the overall CWT. In fact, since the first LPH project began allocation in March 2025, the Government’s overall supply of PRH and LPH has significantly increased. In the past 12 months (from the third quarter of 2025 to the second quarter of 2026), the average quarterly supply of about 7 400 PRH and LPH units is about double the average quarterly supply of about 3 800 units during the three years before the current-term Government took office (i.e. from third quarter of 2019 to second quarter of 2022), showing the supply has significantly increased. This fully highlights the original policy intent of the LPH to promptly assist residents in alleviating their hardships, which has not only played a key role in shortening the waiting time for PRH, but also improved living conditions and quality of life of low-income families. Furthermore, as compared with subdivided units in the private market, residents who are housed to LPH can also save an average of over HK$50,000 in rent per year, which can be accumulated as family savings to plan for a better future.
*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 13 LPH projects will continue to be taken forward in an orderly manner according to the original schedule, among which eight projects (including Yau Pok Road in Yuen Long, Choi Hing Road in Ngau Tau Kok, Choi Yuen Road in Sheung Shui, Shun On Road in Kwun Tong, Olympic Avenue in Kai Tak, Tsing Fuk Lane in Tuen Mun, Choi Shek Lane in Kowloon Bay and Sheung On Street in Chai Wan) have been completed on schedule, among which, Olympic Avenue in Kai Tak (Phase 2) has completed one quarter ahead of schedule, providing a total of about 19 130 units, of which a total of about 9 650 units have now been fully occupied while other completed units have also commenced intake by phases starting from mid-June 2026. About 10 670 and 210 units will be successively completed in the remainder of 2026 and early 2027 respectively.
Applications for LPH have been invited in phases since June 2024, and the fourth phase of applications launched on 2 June 2026, projects covering Olympic Avenue in Kai Tak (Phase 2 (Stage 2)), Yan Po Road in Tuen Mun (Stage 2), Tsing Fat Street in Tuen Mun (Stage 2) and Hang Kwong Street in Ma On Shan. As at end-June 2026, we received a total of about 41 500 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 second quarter of 2026, about 3 200 general applicants were housed to PRH, decreased by about 30% as compared with that of 4 400 general applicants in the last quarter. Among which about 330 were allocated to elderly one-person applicants. In the same quarter, about 200 non-elderly one-person applicants under the Quota and Points System were housed to PRH.
As at end-June 2026, the average waiting time for general applicants who were housed to PRH in the past 12 months has decreased slightly by 0.1 years to 5.5 years. Among which, the average waiting time for elderly one-person applicants has maintained at 3.9 years.
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 by 2 900 cases this quarter. As at end-June 2026, there were about 100 500 general applications for PRH, and about 81 000 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 over 30% and over 40% respectively. Among which, the number of non-elderly one-person applicants aged below 30 recorded an even sharper decline of about 60% over the 10-year period, from about 71 500 as at end-June 2016 to about 29 400 as at end-June 2026, clearly demonstrating that the PRH waiting queue is being reduced.
Compared to the number in last quarter (the first quarter of 2026), the number of new general applications of this quarter (the second quarter of 2026) has decreased by about 8%. We have also observed that many general applicants for Urban district and Extended Urban district with a waiting time of 6 years or above were gradually housed to PRH, which tangibly reflects that our efforts over the past four-plus years are taking effect progressively.
In order to meet the public’s housing needs, the Government will continue to strive to provide public housing (including subsidised sale flats and PRH) of more than 30 000 units per year on average in the next five years (i.e. from 2026-27 to 2030-31). Together with about 20 350 LPH units to be completed starting from 2026-27, the total housing supply involved represents a new high 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.