The Housing Bureau (HB) released today (November 26) the latest Composite Waiting Time for Subsidised Rental Housing (CWT).
 
     As at end-September 2025, the CWT for general applicants (i.e. family and elderly one-person applicants) that were housed in public rental housing (PRH) or Light Public Housing (LPH) in the past 12 months has been 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.
 
     A spokesman for the HB said, "In the third quarter of 2025, we successfully arranged a total of about 7 900 general applicants to be 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 per cent were housed to Urban districts and Extended Urban districts, which are very popular districts among applicants. However, the waiting time for Urban districts and Extended Urban districts 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 this quarter, the CWT has been maintained at 5.1 years as in the last quarter."
 
     On the other hand, the waiting time for general applicants housed to LPH is obviously shorter. In fact, since the first LPH project began allocations 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 the living conditions and quality of life of low-income families, but has 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 an urban area, has been fully occupied in early September 2025. Among the residents who have moved into the project, about 70 per cent had previously been living in inadequate housing (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.
 
     A spokesman for the HB said, "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.
 
     "In addition, with our multipronged 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 and 143 700 cases of general applications and non-elderly one-person applications, the application number has been reduced significantly by around 30 per cent and 40 per cent respectively, clearly demonstrating that the PRH waiting queue is being reduced."
 
     Looking ahead to the five years starting from 2026-27, the overall public housing production (including LPH) will reach 189 000 units, about 80 per cent higher than when the current-term Government took office. Under the current-term Government's unremitting efforts to "enhance speed, quantity, quality and efficiency" in the past three years, the back-loaded situation has been completely reversed by the public housing production. This shift has enabled faster fulfillment of the housing needs of low-income families. The target of reducing the CWT to 4.5 years by 2026-27 remains unchanged.

Ends/Wednesday, November 26, 2025
Issued at HKT 14:00

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