Singapore property agents will soon have to prove that they are still familiar with actual property transactions if they wish to remain registered.
From 1 January 2027, agents must complete at least three property transactions over a three-year registration cycle or pass a refresher examination to qualify for renewal.
Senior Minister of State for National Development Sun Xueling announced the requirement at the Singapore Estate Agents Conference on 28 July 2026.
The first three-year cycle will run from 1 January 2027 to 31 December 2029.
What Counts as One of the Three Transactions?
The requirement is measured across the entire three-year cycle. Agents do not necessarily have to complete exactly one deal every year.
A wide range of completed transactions will count, including the sale, purchase and rental of HDB flats and private homes.
Commercial and industrial property transactions will also be recognised, along with foreign property sales and en bloc transactions.
For most transactions, the Council for Estate Agencies, or CEA, will recognise one property agent representing the buyer or tenant and another representing the seller or landlord.
However, CEA may recognise more than one agent on each side for particularly complex transactions, such as en bloc sales or deals involving high-end commercial and industrial properties. These will be assessed individually.
What Happens if an Agent Does Not Complete Three Deals?
Agents who do not reach the three-transaction threshold can take a refresher examination instead.
The examination will focus on practical knowledge required for estate agency work, including information that agents need when advising clients and handling property transactions.
Further details about the examination, including its format and requirements, will be announced by the first half of 2029.
An agent who does not meet the transaction requirement and does not pass the refresher examination will not be eligible to renew their registration.
Should the person later decide to return to the industry, they will have to retake and pass the full Real Estate Salesperson examination.
CEA may grant waivers in exceptional circumstances. These could include serious medical issues or cases where an agent is working on a complicated property transaction that requires an unusually long time to complete.
New Property Agents Get a First-Year Exemption
New agents will receive slightly more breathing room.
They will not be required to complete any transaction during their first year of registration, giving them time to build their skills and client base.
From their second year onwards, they must complete at least two transactions during the remaining two years of their registration cycle.
Those who fail to complete the two transactions can also take the refresher examination.
For example, an agent who joins the industry on 1 April 2027 will have a registration period ending on 31 December 2029. The agent’s first year will be exempted, after which the two-transaction requirement will apply.
Why Is CEA Introducing the Rule?
CEA said industry stakeholders had raised concerns about agents who remained registered despite not handling transactions regularly.
Property rules, procedures and market conditions can change. An agent who has not facilitated a transaction for several years may be less familiar with the latest requirements, potentially affecting the accuracy of the advice given to clients.
In CEA’s 2024 Public Perception Survey, 74 per cent of consumers expected property agents to complete at least one transaction a year to remain familiar with current property rules and guidelines.
However, as at 1 January 2026, 12,920 of the 32,967 agents who had been registered since 2023 had completed fewer than three residential property transactions between 2023 and 2025.
That works out to about 40 per cent.
This does not mean that consumers are generally unhappy with property agents. The same CEA survey found that 92 per cent of consumers were satisfied with the services provided by their agents, the highest level recorded since the survey began in 2012.
The new requirement is therefore intended to ensure that agents remain active and updated, rather than to address widespread consumer dissatisfaction.
Agent Registrations Will Now Last Three Years
The transaction requirement is being introduced alongside a change to the registration system.
Currently, property agents must renew their registrations every year. Property agencies must similarly renew their licences annually.
From 2027, both agent registrations and property agency licences will be valid for three years.
CEA said this would reduce the administrative work involved in processing annual renewals.
However, agents will continue to pay their S$280 registration fee annually instead of paying three years’ worth of fees at once.
They must also continue completing 16 hours of Continuing Professional Development training every year. The training requirement was raised to 16 hours from 1 January 2026 and will remain in place after the three-year registration cycle begins.
More Changes Are Coming to the Property Industry
The transaction requirement is part of a wider review intended to raise professional standards and improve transparency.
From 1 January 2027, CEA will begin collecting commission data from property agencies every month.
The regulator may eventually publish aggregated and anonymised commission information to give aspiring agents a more realistic idea of potential earnings. Individual agents’ commission figures will not be published.
CEA also plans to introduce a full-scale verification platform for online property listings in 2027. Listings will undergo backend checks and receive a unique code before they are published.
Other proposals are still being studied, including displaying consumer ratings of individual agents on CEA’s public register and allowing property owners to list their properties directly on commercial property portals.
