Hong Kong’s public housing conversation is often dominated by a single anxious question: how long do you have to wait for a home? Today, the answer is starting to change. The average waiting time for a general applicant for subsidised public rental housing has fallen to 4.7 years, a shift that feels small on paper…
Donald Liao Poon-huai, one of Hong Kong’s most influential government architects and public housing visionaries who became the first Chinese official under British rule to serve as secretary for district administration, has died at the age of 96. His death was confirmed to the South China Morning Post by his family on Friday, with one…
The Hong Kong government is set to unveil a resettlement plan for owners who lost their homes in the deadly Wang Fuk Court fire in Tai Po as early as Saturday, offering buy-back options at higher-than-expected prices, the South China Morning Post has learned. Government sources said the acquisition prices for properties without land premiums…
When Hong Kong’s Housing Authority launched the Tenants Purchase Scheme (TPS) in 1998, it embodied the city’s aspiration of home ownership for all. Then the chief executive, Tung Chee-hwa, envisioned public housing tenants buying their flats at a discount, transforming renters into homeowners. That year, the first batch of 25,000 flats was rolled out. In…
Members of Hong Kong’s Housing Authority have urged the government to clarify how a proposal to resettle residents displaced by the deadly Wang Fuk Court fire in Tai Po at a site designated for public rental flats will not impact the thousands currently on the waiting list. They made the call on Monday during a…
Hong Kong’s residential property market closed 2025 on a strong note, with transactions climbing to a six-month high in December, fuelled by demand for low-priced units even as values fell. A total of 5,883 deals were completed last month, up 5.3 per cent month on month and an increase of 43.4 per cent year on…
Hong Kong’s residential property market closed 2025 on a strong note, with transactions climbing to a six-month high in December, fuelled by demand for low-priced units even as values fell. A total of 5,883 deals were completed last month, up 5.3 per cent month on month and an increase of 43.4 per cent year on…
Three girls and three boys were born in Hong Kong’s public and private hospitals in the first hour of New Year’s Day. The CUHK Medical Centre, a private teaching hospital owned by Chinese University, delivered the city’s first baby of 2026 at 12am. The newborn is a boy and his family’s first child. Two minutes…
Nearly 3,000 households and 34 shopping centre tenants in a northern Hong Kong district were left without fresh water during one of the most important family-gathering festivals, as the water authority apologised and rushed to restore supply. The Water Supplies Department said the fresh water supply to On Shing Court, Tin Ping Shopping Centre, and…
This month’s Legislative Council election once again put Hong Kong’s political participation in the spotlight. Despite official calls for civic engagement and a modest improvement over the previous election, voter turnout remained historically low. Among younger voters in particular, a sense of distance from institutional politics was palpable. This was not simply a matter of…