If you are deciding which property agency to join, compare what you would keep after every fee, how you would be trained and supervised, and how easily you could leave. You can be registered with only one agency at a time, and it receives every dollar of your commission before you do. Read the associate agreement before you register, not after.
We do not belong to any agency and do not recommend one. This is a method for comparing them.
Why the Choice Matters
An agent cannot practise alone. The agency submits your registration to the Council for Estate Agencies (CEA), collects commission from clients and pays you your share. Under CEA’s Code of Practice for Estate Agents, it must also manage and supervise its salespersons, and CEA’s advertising guidelines require the agency to vet advertisements before publication.
So you are choosing three things at once: a pay arrangement, a supervisor and a brand that will appear on every advertisement you run.
The Field: 997 Agencies, Mostly Small
CEA’s industry statistics show 997 property agencies as at 1 January 2026.
| Agency size (number of agents) | Number of agencies |
|---|---|
| More than 500 | 5 |
| 51 to 500 | 13 |
| 31 to 50 | 12 |
| 11 to 30 | 43 |
| 1 to 10 | 924 |
The five largest together had about 32,300 of the 36,816 registered agents, while most agencies are very small. Within large agencies, agents are usually organised into teams or divisions, and in practice you are choosing a team leader as much as a company.
Which Property Agency to Join: Six Things to Compare
1. The commission split
Ask how the split works at every level of sales, and whether it resets each year. Then ask what comes off before the split is applied: team overrides, leader shares, transaction or administration charges.
The useful number is not “up to 90%”. It is the dollars you keep from one ordinary deal in your first year. Put each agency’s terms through the property agent commission calculator using the same deal.
2. Fixed fees
Common charges, which vary by agency and are not set by CEA, include a monthly or yearly desk, technology or membership fee, professional indemnity insurance, and recovery of CEA’s fees. CEA’s own fees in 2026 are a $60 application fee and a S$280 yearly registration fee, paid by the agency to CEA.
Fixed fees are due whether or not you close. A higher split with high fixed fees can leave a slow starter worse off than a lower split with none.
3. Training and supervision
Ask what happens in your first month. Who checks your first agency agreement, your first Option to Purchase, your first advertisement? Is training run by the agency or by the team leader, and is it about the rules and paperwork or mainly about motivation?
You will need 16 hours of continuing professional development a year from your second cycle onwards. Ask whether the agency provides the courses and what they cost.
4. Team or solo
A team can give you a mentor, shared listings and someone to call during a difficult negotiation. The price is usually an override taken from your commission, and sometimes an expectation that you staff the leader’s open houses or roadshows.
Ask to see how the override is written into the agreement and whether it ever ends. Ask how many people the leader personally mentors.
5. Leads and projects
If the agency or team says it provides leads, ask how many, from where, who pays for them and what share of commission is taken on a lead-sourced deal. Ask which new launch projects the agency is currently appointed to market if that is your interest, and how showflat duty is allocated to new agents.
6. Exit terms
Agents move. Before signing, find out:
- the notice period
- what happens to commission on deals that are pending when you leave
- who keeps your listings and client records
- any clawback of training costs or advances
CEA says notice periods and resignation terms are contractual matters it does not intervene in. A switching application costs $60. Timing matters too: to switch within a calendar year the application must reach CEA by 30 September, and applications from 1 October take effect the following 1 January.
The short version: Compare agencies on take-home from a realistic first-year deal count, the fixed fees you owe when you close nothing, who will actually check your work, and what it costs to leave. Get all four in writing.
Questions to Ask Before You Sign
- May I take the full associate agreement and fee schedule home to read?
- What exactly do I pay in my first 12 months if I close no deals?
- On a $10,000 commission, how many dollars reach me, and when after completion?
- Who is my supervisor for compliance questions, and how fast do they respond?
- Who vets my advertisements, and what does a typical turnaround look like?
- Is there any minimum sales target, and what happens if I miss it?
- From 2027 I need three transactions in three years to renew. What support is there if I am short?
- Can I speak to two agents who joined in the past year, chosen by me?
Then verify. Look up the agency, the team leader and the recruiter on CEA’s Public Register, which shows registration status, recent residential transactions and any disciplinary records.
Red Flags
- Income promises. No one can promise commission. Screenshots of cheques are marketing, not evidence of what new agents earn.
- Pressure to sign today. A fair agreement is still fair next week.
- You may not take the agreement away. Walk.
- Vague answers on fees or overrides. If it cannot be shown in the document, assume it is not in your favour.
- Recruitment as the main activity. Be careful if the pitch dwells on building your own team and recruiting others more than on serving clients.
- Casual talk about bending rules. Acting for both sides, holding client money or advertising without the owner’s consent are breaches for which you, not only the agency, answer. See the rules and Code of Ethics.
- Paid courses as a condition of joining, beyond the RES course and CEA’s requirements, without a clear explanation of what you get.
What To Do Next
- Shortlist three agencies of different sizes and ask each the same questions.
- Compare the written terms side by side, using one realistic deal and one empty quarter.
- Add each agency’s fixed fees to your budget with our guide to the costs of starting.
- Go back to the property agent career guide if you are still deciding whether to enter at all. If any term in the agreement is unclear, consider asking a lawyer to read it.
