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-March 2026, the CWT for general applicants that were housed to PRH or LPH in the past 12 months is 4.7 years, a decrease of 0.4 years as compared with the last quarter, which is also the lowest record in over eight years. Compared with the highest level of 6.1 years before the current-term Government took office, the CWT has been shortened by nearly one and a half years, and has fallen below 5.0 years for the first time.
In the first quarter of 2026, as many as about 8 400 general applicants were housed to PRH or LPH, including about 1 200 newly completed PRH units, about 3 300 recovered PRH flats, and about 3 900 LPH units. About half (47%) of them were housed to LPH units, which is significantly higher than the proportion in the last quarter (16%). The waiting time of general applicants who were housed to LPH in the past 12 months is only 3.0 years on average. Since the waiting time of general applicants housed to LPH is obviously shorter, the increased proportion of LPH has effectively driven to a decrease in the overall CWT. In fact, since the first LPH project began allocation in March 2025, the Government’s overall supply of subsidised rental housing has increased to about 7 500 units per quarter, which is more than double the average quarterly supply of about 3 500 units during the three years before the current-term Government took office (i.e. from 2019-20 to 2021-22), 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, 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 seven 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 (Phase 1), Tsing Fuk Lane in Tuen Mun and Choi Shek Lane in Kowloon Bay) with a total of about 9 650 units have been completed on schedule and have now been fully occupied, and about 20 150 and 200 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 third phase of applications launched on 30 January 2026, projects covering Olympic Avenue in Kai Tak (Phase 2 (Stage 1)), Sheung On Street in Chai Wan, Yan Po Road in Tuen Mun (Stage 1) and Tsing Fat Street in Tuen Mun (Stage 1). As at end-March 2026, we received a total of about 32 400 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 first quarter of 2026, about 4 400 general applicants were housed to PRH, decreased by about 40% as compared with that of 7 400 general applicants in the last quarter. Among which about 480 were allocated to elderly one-person applicants. In the same quarter, about 930 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 first quarter of 2026, over 60% were applicants housed to Urban district and Extended Urban district. These districts are very popular districts among applicants, thus the waiting time for Urban district and Extended Urban district is over one and a half years longer than that for the New Territories. Their longer waiting time has been taken into account in the latest waiting time, therefore, as at end-March 2026, the average waiting time for general applicants who were housed to PRH in the past 12 months has maintained at 5.6 years. Among which, the average waiting time for elderly one-person applicants has also maintained at 3.9 years. It is worth noting that this situation actually reflects that we are achieving policy outcomes, as 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-March 2026, there were about 103 400 general applications for PRH, and about 81 100 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 71 300 as at end-March 2016 to about 29 500 as at end-March 2026, clearly demonstrating that the PRH waiting queue is being reduced.
Compared to the number in last quarter (as at end-December 2025), the number of new general applications of this quarter (as at end-March 2026) has decreased by about 3%. 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.