Speaking at the Singapore Estate Agents Conference on Tuesday (Jul 28), Senior Minister of State for National Development and Transport Sun Xueling announced that property agents will soon have to complete at least three transactions over three years, or pass a refresher examination, to remain registered.

About 40 per cent of the Republic’s 32,967 registered property agents did not facilitate at least three residential property transactions a year between 2023 and 2025 as at Jan 1, 2026. The median number of residential deals closed per agent each year was two. CEA does not currently track non-residential transactions but will start collecting such data from Jan 1, 2027.

The new currency requirement, effective from January 2027, covers all transaction types including housing sales and rentals, commercial and industrial transactions, foreign property sales and en bloc transactions.

New agents will not be required to complete any transactions in their first year, but must still complete at least two transactions over the next two years, or pass the refresher exam. Those facing extenuating circumstances such as medical issues, or handling complex transactions, may apply for waivers on a case-by-case basis.

Agents who fail to meet the minimum must pass a refresher examination. If they fail the exam, they must exit the industry and retake the real estate salesperson examination before they can return. Persons in management roles who do not intend to conduct estate agency work are not required to maintain their property agent registration.

For the majority of transactions, CEA will recognise one property agent each on the buyer’s and seller’s side. More than one agent may be recognised per side for certain complex transactions, such as en bloc deals or the sale of high-end commercial or industrial properties.

CEA will extend the validity period for all property agency licences and property agent registrations from one year to three years, reducing the administrative workload. The first three-year cycle will start on Jan 1, 2027, and end on Dec 31, 2029.

From January 2027, CEA will also begin collecting commission data from property agencies, to be aggregated, anonymised and eventually published. Sun explained that the industry currently “celebrates and recognises” top performers. “At the same time, we want prospective property agents to have a realistic picture of what a career in the real estate agency industry looks like,” she said.

CEA will also require property agents to sign a contractual agreement, called the Estate Agency Agreement, with their clients to provide greater clarity on agents’ roles and responsibilities, and prevent “downstream disputes”. Buyers will also receive greater transparency on how much commission their property agents will receive for a specific transaction, before commencing work.

The authorities are exploring additional measures to improve transparency. Sun cited the prevalence of inaccurate, fake, duplicate and unauthorised property listings as a common concern raised by property agents and consumers alike. CEA will launch an online platform to verify the authenticity of online listings next year.

Other measures under consideration include publishing consumers’ ratings of property agents on the CEA Public Register of all licensed estate agents and registered salespersons, enhancing HDB’s resale flat portal and potentially making it the default listing platform for HDB resale flats, and studying whether consumers should be able to list their own properties directly on property portals.

“(These measures are) not intended to replace existing property portals, and property agents and sellers will be able to continue advertising on other platforms as well,” Sun added.

As at Jul 1, 2026, there were 38,162 property agents and 1,018 property agencies in Singapore. PropNex remained the largest agency with 13,945 agents as at Jan 1, 2026, followed by ERA with 8,427 agents, Huttons with 5,760, OrangeTee & Tie with 2,518, and SRI with 1,621.

CEA’s latest annual report, published in October 2025, showed that 1,271 complaints were received from the public in 2024. Service and advertisement-related issues accounted for the bulk at 523 and 505 cases respectively, followed by 151 complaints involving non-compliance with property transaction rules. In 2024, the agency took action in 333 substantiated complaints, while 423 were found to be unsubstantiated and 603 were referred to property agencies for resolution.

In January, property agency ERA was issued a letter of censure by CEA for three breaches under the Code of Practice for Estate Agents. This was the second time a property agency was censured, and the first against a major industry player.

Separately, Knight Frank is exiting Singapore’s residential property agency business and has signed an agreement with OrangeTee & Tie to allow its KF Property Network of salespersons to move over. Knight Frank Singapore CEO Galven Tan has also resigned after 2.5 years at the helm.