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Jess Ma

A prime site in the newly developed Kai Tak area, along with two other plots, have been earmarked for the development of tertiary student hostels, Hong Kong authorities have announced.
A spokesman for the Development Bureau said on Tuesday that three commercial sites – in Kai Tak, Siu Lek Yuen in Sha Tin and Tung Chung East – would be open for expressions of interest from the market and could go on sale as early as the next financial year.
“Subject to the response received from this expression of interest exercise, the government can make available one or more of the three sites supporting student hostel development for land sale through open tender in 2026-27 at the earliest,” the spokesman said.
Housing capacity for tertiary students in Hong Kong has become a growing concern in recent years, as the number of non-local students continues to rise while dormitory places fail to keep pace with demand.
Statistics from the Education Bureau show that the city’s eight publicly funded universities had more than 103,000 students in full-time undergraduate and postgraduate research programmes in the 2024-25 academic year, including 26,476 non-locals.
However, the universities offered only about 40,600 hostel places, marking a 15 per cent increase over the past decade.
While the bureau said bed spaces are expected to reach around 50,000 over the next few years with the addition of new dormitories and the renovation of existing hostels, demand is also projected to rise, as the quota for non-local enrolments at publicly funded institutions was doubled from 20 per cent to 40 per cent of local student numbers.

The government said the three sites earmarked for private student hostels were zoned for commercial use, meaning no further planning approval would be required for development.
“All three sites included in this expression of interest exercise are located in urban or extended urban areas with better traffic accessibility and more mature community and commercial facilities in the vicinity,” the spokesman said.
The Kai Tak site, situated in the newly developed middle-class neighbourhood that also houses the Kai Tak Sports Park, is located in the former South Apron area next to the new hospital expected to begin operations later this year. The site measures around 0.74 hectares (1.8 acres), with a maximum gross floor area of roughly 43,000 square metres.
The Siu Lek Yuen site covers about 0.11 hectares, with a maximum gross floor area of around 10,000 square metres. The plot will comprise a mix of commercial, residential and other uses and is close to City One and Shek Mun MTR stations.
The final site, in Tung Chung East, will be situated within the Tung Chung New Town Extension, near the new Tung Chung East station which is expected to begin service in 2029. The plot measures around 0.25 hectares, with a maximum gross floor area of around 23,000 square metres.
The spokesman added that this land sale plan was the government’s first effort to use the public land market to encourage the development of student hostels, following last year’s relaxation of rules allowing private operators to convert commercial buildings into student residences.
According to the Development Bureau, since the rule change, authorities have received 24 applications for such conversions, covering about 5,000 beds in total. Among these, two applications proposed constructing new student hostels on private land.
The spokesman said 22 applications met the relaxed conversion criteria, while two were still being processed.
Josiah Chan Tin-yan, vice-president (organisational development) at The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong in Sha Tin, said the school was particularly interested in the Kai Tak and Siu Lek Yuen sites because of their proximity to the campus.
“We are extremely interested in the Siu Lek Yuen site as it is just a 10-minute walk from our school,” he said, adding that the institution would need around 600 additional beds over the next two to three years.
He said he expected the number of non-local students in Hong Kong to increase, given the government’s goal of developing the city into an international education hub.
He added that the school remained open to collaborating with developers, provided they could lease an entire building for student accommodation.


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Hong Kong earmarks Kai Tak site among 3 plots for private student hostel projects

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Sha Tin and Tung Chung sites also among those the government will open for interest to develop into private student hostels to ease housing pressure


Sha Tin and Tung Chung sites also among those the government will open for interest to develop into private student hostels to ease housing pressure.


Hong Kong earmarks Kai Tak site among 3 plots for private student hostel projects

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Sha Tin and Tung Chung sites also among those the government will open for interest to develop into private student hostels to ease housing pressure

Sha Tin and Tung Chung sites also among those the government will open for interest to develop into private student hostels to ease housing pressure