Ye Wenqi, Vice President and Co-Director of the Research Department of the Unity Hong Kong Fund, responded to the public housing waiting list data released by the Hong Kong Housing Authority. The Housing Authority has just released the public housing waiting list data for the past 12 months up to the end of June 2024, showing a slight decrease in the average waiting time for general applications to 5.5 years. Ye Wenqi said that the number of allocations received this quarter has increased, setting a record for the highest number of allocations in a single quarter since the third quarter of 2022. At the same time, the number of applications and waiting time have both decreased, indicating that the new supply is helping to accommodate the number of applicants on the waiting list. He pointed out that the high number of allocations this quarter is due to more than half of the new supply coming from public housing projects under the Early Turnover Scheme, which have been completed ahead of schedule. It is believed that the public housing allocation numbers may fluctuate slightly in the short term due to the additional supply under the Early Turnover Scheme. In order to further reduce the comprehensive average waiting time from the current level to the target of 4.5 years, the authorities need to ensure that simple public housing units are completed on time starting from the 2024/25 financial year, and continue to keep the delay rate of public housing projects at a low level to ensure stable future supply increases.