The Housing Authority on Thursday said a measure that would make it easier for families with newborns to apply for public housing flats will come into effect from April.

Cleresa Wong, the chairwoman of the authority’s subsidised housing committee, said the scheme would cut their waiting times for such flats by about a year.

"If the family applying for a public housing unit had a newborn on or after October 25th last year ... then we hope to shorten the family's waiting time by one year,” she told a media standup.

“We'll give them priority, and their application materials will be processed one year earlier during the waiting time,” Wong said of the scheme which takes effect on April 1.

She added such applicants would also be given priority when it comes to selecting subsidised units, but the authority will not be implementing that scheme in the short term.

Meanwhile, the authority said it will offer about 2,500 subsidised units to people who are currently living in public housing flats at 52 percent of market prices in the first quarter of the year.

Most of the 2,537 units under the Green Form Subsidised Home Ownership Scheme will be at Lai Yuet Court in Cheung Sha Wan, with sizes ranging between 280 sq ft and 646 sq ft.

The units will range between HK$1.5 million and HK$4.6 million in price.

Other than units at Lai Yuet Court, there will also be 178 smaller units from three other housing projects.