Hong Kong Housing Authority: The total public housing supply in Hong Kong is expected to reach 190,000 units in the next five years

The Zhitong Finance App learned that on April 10, the Secretary for Housing of Hong Kong, Ho Wing-yin, said during a special session of the Legislative Council on the housing sector that the current Hong Kong Government has been committed to drastically increasing the supply of public housing since taking office. Ho Wing-yin expects the total supply of public housing over the next five years (that is, 2025/26 to 2029/30), including (about) 30,000 “simple public houses”, to reach 190,000.

In addition, the Hong Kong Government is continuing to improve the housing ladder, with the goal of gradually adjusting the ratio of public housing (including the Green Form Home Ownership Plan (Green Home)) and subsidized sales units from the current 7 to 4. The Housing Authority will also provide an additional lottery number for applicants who have applied for funding to sell units the previous two times without successfully purchasing units, starting with the introduction of Green Home Ownership and Home Ownership (Home)) An opportunity to sell units; at the same time, the next phase of Home Housing will begin to adjust the green to white ratio from the current 4 to 5 to 5 to 5 to encourage more public housing tenants to buy homes.

Ho Wing-yin mentioned that the authorities have always been working to drastically increase the supply of public housing. The estimated supply volume is 80% higher than the five-year period when the current administration took office (i.e. 2022/23 to 2026/27), enabling eligible citizens to “get on the bus” faster. Currently, “simple public housing” is progressing smoothly, and the design and construction of all 13 projects have been carried out one after another. Under best efforts to control costs, the total cost of “simple public housing” was reduced by a total of 15% compared to the total funding applied to the Finance Committee, or about HK$3.7 billion.

The goal of the authorities is to complete the construction of (approximately) 30,000 “simple public housing” units by 2027/28, so that residents can have a better living environment while waiting for public housing and plan the future housing ladder. Along with transitional housing and many traditional public housing projects to be completed over the next few years, the Hong Kong Government is more “emboldened” to implement a comprehensive strategy to effectively and accurately address the “housing shortage” problem in Hong Kong.

Ho Wing-yin pointed out that in addition to helping people in the community facing urgent housing needs, the Hong Kong Government has also been working hard to improve the housing ladder to respond to the public's demand for buying a home.

In order to satisfy young people's desire to buy homes and encourage them to follow the housing ladder, the authorities also introduced the Baiju Second Market Plan 2024 (White Watch Second Market Plan 2024) on March 6. The authorities increased the quota by 1,500 to 6,000, and allocated all of the new quotas to young families under 40 and one applicant; and from the next phase, an additional lottery number will be distributed to young families under 40 (white form) and single applicants applying to buy a home. Of all the applications, those participating in the “Youth Program (Baiju 2)” first launched in the current “Baiju 2 2024” account for about 80% of the total number of applicants, reflecting that they are quite popular among young people.

As for the supply of private housing, according to the latest estimates, the supply in the first-hand private residential property market will remain at a high level in the next three to four years, about 107,000 units. In order to reduce the burden on those who buy (relatively) low-value properties, the Financial Secretary announced in the 2025/26 Budget that adjustments will be made to the ad valorem stamp duty payable for the sale or transfer of residential and non-residential properties. The applicable tax rate of HK$100 will be raised from a value not exceeding HK$3 million to no more than HK$4 million. I believe it will be of some help to those who are interested in buying a home, especially young people who want to “get on the bus.” The Hong Kong Government will continue to closely monitor the development of the property market and grasp the pace of supply in accordance with the annual supply target of the “Long-term Housing Strategy”.