Another Year of Successful Collaboration

January 2026 - 3 min read

Dear industry partners and friends,

A Happy New Year to all!

2025 was a busy year for all of us at CEA and I am sure it was the same for you.

One highly anticipated development stood out for me: In October 2025, we welcomed the formation of the new Singapore Institute of Estate Agents (SIEA), which saw the coming together of two industry bodies that CEA has worked closely with – the Singapore Estate Agents Association (SEAA) and the Institute of Estate Agents (IEA) Singapore.

This was an important milestone for the real estate agency industry and CEA looks forward to working with SIEA to continue to raise the standards of the industry.

In addition, I would like to highlight other developments from last year that were especially meaningful for CEA.

Enhancing Professionalism

In 2025, raising industry professionalism remained a top priority.

To this end, CEA has been working with industry partners to implement the recommendations of Project ADEPT (ADvancing and Enhancing Professionalism and Training) that were announced in May 2023.

One recent and pertinent example: The new Professional Development Reference Guide (PDRG) for the industry that was announced by Ms Sun Xueling, Senior Minister of State (SMS), Ministry of National Development and Ministry of Transport at the SG Real Estate Agents Excellence Awards on 21 November 2025.

The PDRG, developed by CEA in close consultation with SIEA and industry stakeholders, provides key information on the different job roles in the real estate agency industry, including the required skills and competencies, and the expected proficiency levels.

CEA will continue working with stakeholders to support such initiatives to raise the professionalism of the industry.

Engaging and supporting the industry

In the last quarter of 2025, CEA also accompanied SMS Sun on her introductory visits and dialogue sessions with property agencies, agents, and industry associations.

These engagements remain an important channel for us to hear your feedback on key topics, which is essential for CEA’s policy-making and regulatory work.

One example is the continuing nationwide effort on enhancing the Prevention of Money Laundering, Proliferation Financing and Terrorism Financing (PMLPFTF) measures.

In April 2025, Parliament passed the Anti-Money Laundering and Other Matters (Estate Agents and Developers) Bill, with enhanced anti-money laundering requirements and penalties for the real estate sector.  These key changes were operationalised on 1 July 2025.

The engagement sessions were a useful opportunity for us to discuss some of the challenges faced by the industry in implementing the new requirements and to provide clarifications.  CEA will continue to engage stakeholders and will also develop additional guidance materials to further support the industry in implementing the necessary compliance measures.

Protecting the interests of consumers

As part of our mission to protect the interests of consumers, CEA will continue to work with our partners, and use our communication channels including social media, to educate property consumers on engaging a property agent and the property transaction process. To further support these efforts, CEA has launched our Instagram page in September 2025 to reach out to a wider audience.

Our efforts are aimed at helping property consumers make better decisions and to encourage them to work with their appointed property agents to complete the required processes when transacting a property.

Our collective efforts over the years are paying off.

In June 2025, we announced the results of the CEA 2024 Public Perception Survey (PPS) that is conducted every three years.

One of the key findings was that 92% of property consumers were satisfied with the services provided by their property agents. This was the highest rating since the survey was first conducted in 2012. However, the survey also showed that consumers have rising expectations of property agencies and agents, and pointed out areas for improvement such as better understanding client needs and ensuring that property transactions are carried out according to current laws and regulations.

I have no doubt that as an industry, we will be able to work together to meet these higher expectations.

Awards

I’m especially glad to share about two awards that CEA received last year.

A CEA project team, together with colleagues from the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA), the Singapore Police Force (SPF) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), won the MND Minister’s Award 2025 for a CEA-led project relating to our enforcement efforts. The close collaboration between various agencies enabled CEA officers to locate and eventually secure the return of an accused person who had fled Singapore and was on the run for several years.

The revamped CEA website that was launched in August 2025, was also recognised with the ‘Best Functionality Award’ at the Digital Services Awards organised by GovTech. The success of the website revamp could not have been achieved without the support of industry stakeholders who contributed their valuable feedback during the website revamp process.

To me, these awards are fruits of CEA’s long-running collaboration with our counterparts in the public sector and the industry.

The Year Ahead

New changes await us in 2026.

The new Continuing Professional Development (CPD) framework takes effect from 1 January 2026, meaning that the property agents must now fulfil a minimum of 16 training hours to meet the annual CPD requirement for registration renewal, which includes a mandatory training requirement on Prescribed Essential topics.

A new CPD system will be launched this month to provide an integrated platform for property agencies, agents, and course providers to manage these CPD activities. I hope that this new system will support you well in tracking and meeting the new CPD requirements.

I wish everyone another successful year ahead as we work together to realise our shared vision of a real estate agency industry that is professional, productive and resilient.

CHAN KHAR LIANG
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
COUNCIL FOR ESTATE AGENCIES

Information accurate as at 6 January 2026