Industry Spotlight
Transforming Your CPD Journey: Key Changes from 2026
9 September 2025
What are the new enhancements to the CPD framework from 2026? Find out more in this article.
Sep 2025 - 3 min read
As the real estate agency industry continues to evolve, real estate salespersons (RESs) need to continuously upskill and keep up with industry and regulatory developments to serve their clients better.
To support this, the Council for Estate Agencies (CEA) is enhancing the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) framework from 1 January 2026.
These enhancements are part of Project ADEPT (Advancing and Enhancing Professionalism and Training) and aim to equip RESs with the tools they need to raise professionalism, provide quality service to their clients and be future-ready.
A Quick Guide to Important Changes from 1 January 2026:
The CPD cycle will be permanently shifted from an October-September cycle to a January-December cycle, aligning with the RES registration validity period
The current CPD cycle (1 October 2024 to 30 September 2025) will be extended by three months to end on 31 December 2025.
The current system of CPD credits will change to training hours, giving RESs more choice to attend courses of different durations to fulfil their CPD requirements.
RESs must complete 16 training hours annually, comprising 12 hours of Structured Learning (SL) activities and four hours of Self-directed Learning (SDL) activities.
Structured Learning component comprises courses in Professional Competencies from the current framework and a mandatory Prescribed Essential CPD training requirement for the industry.
Self-directed Learning component enables RESs to have flexibility in their learning process and take up more forms of learning activities that can be recognised for registration renewal.
My CPD Portal will be replaced by a new CPD System in January 2026 to support the implementation of the new CPD framework. It will offer enhanced dashboards and user-friendly features to deliver a more intuitive and better user experience for Key Executive Officers (KEOs), RESs, estate agents (EAs) and CPD course providers.
What You Need to Do:
Although the current CPD cycle has been extended to 31 December 2025, KEOs and RESs are encouraged to complete their existing requirements of six CPD credits early, before this year’s registration renewal exercise starts from 1 October 2025.
Check that your CPD records are updated by 14 December 2025.
A New CPD Category - Prescribed Essential Topics
Courses under Prescribed Essential (PE) topics will focus on fundamental professional knowledge areas, including ethics and regulatory compliance, which are the core competencies every RES needs to master.
The PE categories will be determined by CEA each year.
The two categories of PE are:
a. Specific PE topic: The specific PE topic must be fulfilled in a given year and may change depending on industry and regulatory developments. An example would be Prevention of Money Laundering, Proliferation Financing and Terrorism Financing (PMLPFTF).
b. Laws, Regulations and Ethics: These are fundamental topics that all RESs must understand and comply with, such as CEA's regulations on estate agency work, ethics, and professional practice and conduct.
The passing of the Anti-Money Laundering and Other Matters (Estate Agents and Developers) Bill on 8 April 2025 highlighted Singapore’s national commitment to strengthening Singapore's defence against money laundering, proliferation financing and terrorism financing activities.
As such, Prevention of Money Laundering, Proliferation Financing and Terrorism Financing (PMLPFTF) will be the Specific PE topic in the 2026 CPD cycle to support the industry in complying with the revised PMLPFTF requirements. This includes how EAs and RESs should conduct Customer Due Diligence checks, report suspicious transactions, as well as establish risk assessment, internal controls and compliance procedures.
More Choices of CPD Courses and Course Providers
With the launch of CEA’s enhanced accreditation criteria for CPD course providers, CPD course providers have been developing new courses with better course designs, improved class engagement activities and assessment components.
For more information, visit the CPD course directory for the latest details on available courses.
Information accurate as at 9 Sep 2025