Public Housing
Shortage of affordable housing is one of the most urgent challenges facing Hong Kong. Once a pillar of Hong Kong’s prosperity, Hong Kong’s public housing system is now inadequate to meet the needs of its population.
HKFEI closely analyzes data indicators and engages with stakeholders to develop win-win housing reform solutions. We aim to provide policy recommendations that create a more effective and inclusive housing system.
HKFEI is working on four focus areas
Increasing youth homeownership
A longstanding shortage of subsidized sale flats has broken the housing ladder for young people. Our research indicates a need to significant increase in subsidized sale housing supply.
Increasing Housing circulation
Strict resale rules and quota limitations have frozen the secondary subsidized housing market. The result is public owners cannot enjoy the true benefits of homeownership. Our research indicates a need to boost circulation by loosening rules and eliminating quotas.
Reducing Housing misallocation
According to our research, many well-off public housing tenants paid very low rents, while many low-income households spent large sums on private sector rents. This research motivated the Well-off Tenants policy reform in 2025. HKFEI is currently monitoring reform implementation and efficacy.
| Private renters below PRH income limit | PRH tenants above 2X income limit | |
|---|---|---|
| Average rent/income | > 40% | ~ 5% |
| Number of Households | 165,620 | 51,580 |
Source: Population Census (2021)
Constructing better indicators
Current policy focuses too much on PRH wait times, an unsound measure of public housing need. The lack of more scientific data indicators for evaluating housing policy efficacy is skewing HK’s economic development. HKFEI is currently constructing improved metrics for monitoring the housing policy impact.