Residents walk in front of residential blocks of the Wah Fu Estate, an old public housing in Hong Kong’s Southern District, on March 19, 2024. (SHAMIM ASHRAF / CHINA DAILY)

HONG KONG – The Subsidised Housing Committee of Hong Kong's Housing Authority on Friday approved upward adjustments of income and asset limits for most households seeking public rental housing.

The committee endorsed freezing the income limits for one-person and four-person households at the existing levels – at HK$12,940 and HK$30,950 respectively.

But the limits will be raised for families of two or three, as well as those with five or more residents, the authority said in a notification.

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Asset limits will be adjusted upwards by 3 percent for all household sizes, said the Housing Authority.

The new rules take effect on April 1.

This chart shows newly adjusted income and asset limits (in Hong Kong dollar)

The adjustments were made after taking into account “the current economic conditions, past practices in reviewing the income limits and the overall situation of the income limit adjustments”, said the authority.

Public rental housing income limits are derived using a household expenditure approach, which takes into consideration housing costs and non-housing costs, plus a 5 percent contingency provision. 

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The asset limits, meanwhile, are adjusted with reference to movements in the Consumer Price Index over the year.