The Housing Bureau announced today that the latest quarterly Composite Waiting Time for Subsidised Rental Housing (CWT) is 4.7 years, 0.4 years down from the last quarter, marking the lowest record in over eight years.

This figure is calculated based on general applicants (ie family and elderly one-person applicants) that were housed to public rental housing (PRH) or Light Public Housing (LPH) in the past 12 months as at end-March 2026, the bureau explained.

It also highlighted that compared with the highest level of 6.1 years before the current-term Government took office, the CWT has been shortened by nearly 1.5 years, and has fallen below five years for the first time.

In the first quarter of 2026, the bureau has arranged about 8,400 general applicants to be housed to PRH or LPH. These units included about 1,200 newly completed PRH flats, about 3,300 recovered PRH flats, and about 3,900 LPH units. Around 47% of the applicants were housed to LPH units, significantly higher than last quarter’s proportion at 16%.

The average waiting time of general applicants who were housed to LPH in the past 12 months is three years.

The waiting time for PRH units in the urban districts in the past 12 months was about six years, while the waiting time for LPH units in the New Territories was only about two years.

Since the first LPH project began allocation in March 2025, the Government’s overall supply of subsidised rental housing has risen to about 7,500 units per quarter, which is around double the average quarterly supply of 3,500 units during the three years before the current-term Government took office.

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 & Points System. Compared with the highest level of 156,400 cases and 143,700 cases of general applications and non-elderly one-person applications, the number of applications reduced significantly by over 30% and over 40% respectively.

Among them, the number of non-elderly one-person applicants aged below 30 recorded a sharp decline of about 60% over the 10-year period, from about 71,300 at end-March 2016 to about 29,500 at end-March 2026.

The bureau said the CWT is anticipated to be capped at five years, indicating a downward trend.

For the next five years from 2026-27 onwards, the overall public housing production, including LPH, will be about 196,000 units, 80% higher than when the current-term Government took office. About 115,000 PRH flats will be completed, reaching the peak in supply. In respect of LPH, about 9,650 have been fully occupied as at the first quarter of 2026; while about 20,150 and 200 units will be successively completed in the remainder of 2026 and early 2027, gradually attaining the target of completing the construction of about 30,000 LPH units by 2027-28.

The CWT will move towards the target of reducing it to 4.5 years in 2026-27, the bureau added.