Over 2,400 public housing applicants have selected units earlier than the average waiting time of three years under the latest Express Flat Allocation Scheme round.

Assistant Director of Housing (Allocation) Fung Ho-tong said among the successful applicants, 15 had been registered on the waiting list since late February, which means they only waited eight months for public housing.

"The current exercise has drawn 15,060 applicants with 7,126 turning up to select units. More than 50%, or 2,428 units out of the 4,088 units pooled for selection were chosen," Mr Fung said.

Most of the units pooled for selection are located in older housing estates or more remote areas. A thousand are flats converted from interim housing units in Po Tin Estate and about 900 vacant Housing for Senior Citizens units. They are suitable for households ranging from one to nine, with monthly rental from $312 to $3,310.

Unjustified refusal will be recorded

Applications for the current exercise were invited in April and May, and selection was conducted from August to early October.

Mr Fung said applicants who refused to take up units without a justified reason will be recorded and they will return to the general waiting list with no more than two flat offers, although their waiting sequence will remain unchanged.

Since the scheme's implementation in 1997, nine rounds of the exercise have been conducted and about 4,000 applicants have already benefited from it.