The average waiting time for a Hong Kong public rental flat increased slightly to 5.4 years in the second quarter of 2025 from 5.3 years in the first three months of the year despite a significant drop in the number of applications, according to the Housing Authority.
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The authority, the city’s largest public housing provider, on Thursday pointed to applicants being allocated refurbished public housing recovered from tenants or evicted due to abuse of resources in urban areas.
It also revealed that about 3,000 general applicants – families or elderly households – were allocated flats between April and June.
Among them, 2,900 households were given refurbished homes recovered from tenants, including those who surrendered their properties after purchasing subsidised flats or were evicted due to tenancy abuse, while the remaining families were allocated flats in Yip Wong Estate in Tuen Mun or Pak Tin Estate in Sham Shui Po.
As of June, the city had about 115,700 general applicants for public rental homes, a 26 per cent drop from the peak of 156,400 cases in September 2020.
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About 360 non-elderly single applicants were housed in public rental homes in the second quarter. As of June, there were about 86,100 applicants, a 40 per cent drop from the peak of 143,700 cases in December 2015.
