Waiting Time for Public Housing Remains Steady at 5.1 Years, Lowest Since 2018

Housing Bureau releases latest quarterly Composite Waiting Time for Subsidised Rental Housing

The Housing Bureau (HB) released today (February 12) the latest quarterly Composite Waiting Time for Subsidised Rental Housing (CWT).

As at end-December 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 continued to remain 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.

It is noteworthy that the number of applicants housed in PRH in 2025 has maintained a high level of over 20 000 cases, nearly 6300 cases more than the newly registered general applications of 14500 cases in the same year, which has cleared up a certain amount of long-standing backlogged applications. The number of general applications allocated PRH each year has far exceeded the number of new applications registered in the same year for two consecutive years (namely 2024 and 2025), which is the first time since records became available for the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA).

Huge PRH and LPH supply has effectively shortened the PRH waiting list

In the fourth quarter of 2025, the HB has successfully arranged a total of about 8 800 general applicants to be housed in PRH or LPH, including about 3 600 newly completed PRH flats, about 3 800 recovered PRH flats, and about 1 400 LPH units. The huge housing supply has effectively shortened the PRH waiting list. Among the general applicants housed in PRH, about 70 per cent were housed in the urban district and extended urban district, while more applicants, as compared with the last quarter, were housed in flats in the New Territories (including the newly completed Choi Shek Estate in Sheung Shui and recovered PRH flats). Since the urban district and extended urban district are very popular districts among applicants, their waiting time is about two years longer than that for the New Territories, thus when their waiting time has been taken into account, the CWT has not decreased.

On the other hand, the waiting time of general applicants housed in LPH is obviously shorter, the overall CWT has managed to stay at 5.1 years as at end-December 2025. In fact, since the first LPH project began allocation in the first quarter of 2025, the waiting time of general applicants who were housed in LPH is only 3.2 years on average. This fully highlights that LPH has not only improved living conditions and the quality of life of low-income families, but has also played a key role in shortening the waiting time for PRH. As compared with subdivided units, residents who are housed in LPH can also save an average of over $50,000 in rent per year, which can be accumulated as family savings to plan for a better future.

In addition, with the HB's multipronged approach to expedite the turnover of PRH flats, the number of PRH general applicants has further decreased. As at end-December 2025, there were about 106 300 general applications for PRH, and about 81 500 non-elderly one-person applications under the Quota and Points System. As compared with the highest level of 156400 cases and 143700 cases of general applications and non-elderly one-person applications, the application number has been reduced significantly by more than 30 per cent and over 40 per cent respectively. In addition, the number of non-elderly one-person applicants aged below 30 recorded an even sharper decline of 60 per cent over the 10-year period, from about 74 500 to about 29 500 as at end-December 2025, clearly demonstrating that the PRH waiting queue is being reduced.

Public housing allocations outpace new applications for two consecutive years

The Housing Department (HD) has conducted an analysis of the housing situation of general applicants that were housed in PRH or LPH in 2025. The results show that, following the gradual completion of new PRH projects, the significant results achieved by the HD in its enhanced effectiveness in combating tenancy abuse in recent years, coupled with the completion and occupancy of several Home Ownership Scheme projects and Green Form Subsidised Home Ownership Scheme projects by the HA, a significant number of PRH tenants vacated their PRH flats due to their purchase of subsidised sale flats. As a result, the number of applicants housed in PRH in 2025 has maintained a high level of over 20 000 cases, nearly 6300 cases more than the newly registered general applications of 14500 cases in the same year, which has cleared up a certain amount of long-standing backlogged applications. It is noteworthy that the number of general applications allocated PRH each year has far exceeded the number of new applications registered in the same year for two consecutive years, 2024 and 2025, which is the first time since records became available for the HA. This reflects the current-term Government's determination to increase the supply of public housing and to shorten the PRH waiting time, as well as the significant and sustainable effectiveness of its various policies.

The overall public housing production is reaching its peak

Looking ahead at the five years starting from 2026-27 onwards, the overall public housing production (including LPH) will reach over 195 000 units, over 80 per cent higher than when the current-term Government took office, among which, about 115 000 PRH flats will be completed during this period, reaching the peak in supply. In respect of LPH, about 9 500 units have been gradually completed in 2025, and about 20 300 and 200 units will be successively completed in 2026 and early 2027 respectively, gradually moving towards the target of completing the construction of about 30 000 units by 2027-28.

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 fulfilment of the housing needs of low-income families. The target of reducing the CWT to 4.5 years by 2026-27 remains unchanged.

Source: AI-found images

Year-end Population for 2025

According to the statistics released by the Census and Statistics Department today (February 12), the provisional estimate of the Hong Kong population was 7 510 800 at end-2025, representing an increase of 10 200 or 0.1% from 7 500 600 at end-2024.

A net inflow of 29 100 Hong Kong residents (i.e. inflow more than outflow) was recorded during the period from end-2024 to end-2025. Over the same period, a natural decrease (i.e. deaths surpassing births) of 18 900 was recorded, with 31 100 births and 50 000 deaths.

Among the total population at end-2025, 7 242 400 were Usual Residents and 268 400 were Mobile Residents. The revised figure for the mid-year population for 2025 was 7 498 900. The number of Usual Residents was revised to 7 232 900 and the number of Mobile Residents to 266 000. The rate of change in population from mid-2024 to mid-2025 was also revised to -0.3%.

Table 1 presents estimated total population as at end-2025, while Table 2 presents population figures from mid-2014 to end-2025.

Commentary

A government spokesperson said that the overall population in end-2025 increased as compared to end-2024, benefiting from various measures on talent attraction and labour importation that brought people into Hong Kong from other places around the world to offset the impact of natural population decrease.

Further information

"Usual Residents" refer to two categories of people: (1) Hong Kong Permanent Residents who have stayed in Hong Kong for at least three months during the six months before or for at least three months during the six months after the reference time-point, regardless of whether they are in Hong Kong or not at the reference time-point; and (2) Hong Kong Non-permanent Residents who are in Hong Kong at the reference time-point.

For those Hong Kong Permanent Residents who are not "Usual Residents", they are classified as "Mobile Residents" if they have stayed in Hong Kong for at least one month but less than three months during the six months before or for at least one month but less than three months during the six months after the reference time-point, regardless of whether they are in Hong Kong or not at the reference time-point.

Under the current practice, the latest population estimate is released on a provisional basis in each round. The revised estimate will be released six months later. In other words, while the provisional population estimate for end-2025 is released today, the corresponding revised estimate will be released in August 2026.