Policy Address 2026: Hong Kong government to call for private sector bids to build student housing

The Development Bureau will put the first student-hostel designated site up for sale this financial year, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said in today’s policy address.

The tendered land will be from Kai Tak, Siu Lek Yuen, Shatin or Tung Chung East, according to the February release of LegCo, with no further details released.

The land-selling initiative comes under the Hostels in the City Scheme, jointly launched by the Development Bureau and Education Bureau in July last year, and encourages dormitory developers from private sectors.

The scheme was previously limited to the conversion of office buildings and hotels into student housings when introduced in the policy address last year.

Ho Hang-kei, a professor researching housing policy at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said, developing new sites, as opposed to converting existing buildings, will compete for limited construction human resources in the market. 

He added that it may curb the number of building projects that can commence in the same period.

“But in the medium term, I think that’s going to be quite an attractive position, given the steady stream of students and high occupancy rate,” he said.

As of April, existing market-run student hostel projects have recorded an occupancy rate of between 98% and 100%, according to the report from Jones Lang LaSalle.

Sun Yichen, 22, a master student at City University of Hong Kong, moved into the Yuè Residence in Kowloon in August this year since she failed to secure a place in the on-campus hall in June.

Sun thinks that the hostel needs better security arrangements.

“It’s very late for me to finish the class at 10 p.m. every night,” she said. “Temple Street draws heavy foot traffic after dark, and there is only one security guard on duty downstairs at the dormitory,” she added. 

TYR reporters were able to enter Yuè Residence without registration.

To meet the thriving development in the private student hostel market, the Education Bureau will support Hong Kong Direct Subsidy Scheme Schools Council to establish a series of standards including accommodation, hygiene, safety and warden arrangements, according to the policy address.

American real estate investment management company Jones Lang LaSalle forecasts that Hong Kong’s student accommodation supply-demand gap will nearly double from 76,300 beds last year to 147,200 beds by the end of 2029. 

Since the launch of the Hostels in the City Scheme, 41 applications have been confirmed, securing the provision of 10,800 bed spaces, according to the policy address.