Wait for Hong Kong public rental flats drops to 5.3 years, lowest since 2018

The average waiting time for a Hong Kong public rental flat dropped to 5.3 years at the end of 2024, the lowest level in six years.

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu on Tuesday expressed confidence in reducing the waiting time for public flats to 4½ years, if including applicants allocated to temporary homes.

“The year-end figure precisely corresponds to the goal I proposed when I assumed office in 2022, which is to cap the average waiting time at six years,” Lee said before his weekly meeting with the key decision-making Executive Council.

The latest data from the Housing Authority, released after the city leader spoke, showed the average waiting time for general applicants had decreased to 5.3 years in the fourth quarter of last year, down by 0.2 years from the previous quarter.

The 5.3-year waiting time represents a 0.8-year cut, or a 13 per cent drop, from a recent high of 6.1 years, which was recorded at the end of March in 2022.

The latest waiting time is the lowest since 2018.