The Housing Bureau announced today that the latest quarterly Composite Waiting Time for Subsidised Rental Housing (CWT) is 4.8 years, a slight increase of 0.1 years from the previous quarter.

This figure is calculated based on general applicants – family and elderly one-person applicants – who were housed to public rental housing (PRH) or Light Public Housing (LPH) in the past 12 months as at end-June 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 1.3 years. It remains lower than the 2018-25 records, and continues to remain under five years.

In the second quarter of 2026, the bureau arranged about 4,400 general applicants to be housed to PRH or LPH. These units included about 720 newly completed PRH flats, about 2,400 recovered PRH flats, and about 1,300 LPH units.

Among the general applicants housed to PRH and LPH units over the past 12 months, the proportion of those located in urban districts and extended urban districts reached 74%. Moreover, 81% of the recovered PRH units were located in urban districts and extended urban districts.

The waiting time for urban districts and extended urban districts is generally over a year longer than that for the New Territories. When factored into the latest calculation, this resulted in a slight increase of 0.1 years in CWT.

The waiting time for PRH units in the urban districts in the past 12 months was about six years.  

During the same period, the average waiting time of general applicants who were housed to LPH was three years, while the waiting time for LPH units in the New Territories was only about two years.

Over the past 12 months, the Government’s overall supply of PRH and LPH has risen to about 7,400 units per quarter, which is around double the average quarterly supply of 3,800 units during the three years before the current-term Government took office.

As at end-June 2026, there were about 100,500 general applications for PRH, and about 81,000 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 decreased significantly by over 30% and over 40% respectively.

Among them, the number of non-elderly one-person applicants aged below 30 recorded an even sharper decline of about 60% over the 10-year period, from about 71,500 at end-June 2016 to about 29,500 at end-June 2026. The bureau said this clearly shows that the PRH waiting queue is being reduced.

For the next five years from 2026-27 onwards, the overall public housing production, including subsidised sale flats, PRH and LPH, will be about 196,000 units, around 85% 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 19,130 units have been completed, among which about 9,650 units have been fully occupied as at the second quarter of 2026. About 10,670 and 210 units will be successively completed in the remainder of 2026 and early 2027, steadily moving towards the target of completing the construction of about 30,000 LPH units by 2027-28.

The bureau said that, as the PRH applicants who have a longer waiting time are being housed to PRH, the short-term fluctuations in the average waiting time for PRH proved that the Government is effectively tackling the long-standing backlog of waiting cases. The CWT will move towards the target of reducing it to 4.5 years in 2026-27, the bureau added.