Only about 7,000 vacant homes and rooms had been registered as of Thursday of an anticipated 50,000 annually under a government plan to help provide subsidized housing to single seniors and people on low incomes.

The underwhelming result may force the government to review the program, which was introduced in October 2017 in the hope of complementing its policy of accepting more foreign workers from April this year.

The government planned to have 175,000 units of accommodation registered by the end of fiscal 2020, but the low figure indicates a lack of interest among owners of vacant property.