Poor families living in sub-divided flats can expect their rents to continue rising despite weakness in the overall housing market, according to research from the Chinese University. The Institute for Future Cities collected information from people living in 100 subdivided flats across the city, and compared it with government data. The results suggest that total rentals for a subdivided flat are double those for a comparable flat that has not been subdivided. Professor Edward Yiu, associate director of the institute, said even though the inflation rate and market rent for small units are levelling off, rents for subdivided flats are not forecast to level off at the same speed. He said this was because there were many low-income families looking for subdivided flats, but the supply of such flats was far from adequate to meet the demand. A concern group which helped with the research called on the government to provide transitional housing on temporarily vacant sites, such as vacant schools and non-departmental quarters.