An NGO said on Wednesday that the number of applications for its new transitional flats is almost triple the number available, illustrating the seriousness of Hong Kong's housing shortage.

Lok Kwan Social Service has so far received 204 applications for its two projects in Ho Man Tin which will have 76 flats. The application period ends on July 29.

The projects are subsidised by the government and are expected to be completed in the third and fourth quarter of this year.

Stanley Ng, chairman of the organisation, said the government's main goal should be to provide public flats faster.

"It's good for the government to build transitional housing, but the most important thing to solve housing problems is to speed up land development and building flats. The government should try its best to reach its aim of reducing the waiting time to three years," he said.

The average wait for a public housing flat now stands at 6.1 years.

Ng suggested that the government can renovate old buildings and turn them into transitional flats as it is more efficient than building new ones.