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Singapore Estate Agents Association (SEAA) Officially Becomes Singapore Institute of Estate Agents (SIEA)

Singapore, 1 October 2025 – The Singapore Estate Agents Association (SEAA) has officially been renamed the Singapore Institute of Estate Agents (SIEA), effective from today. This milestone follows the successful coming together of SEAA and the Institute of Estate Agents (IEA), Singapore uniting the real estate industry under a single, stronger professional body.

The new name reflects the association’s evolving role as the leading professional body for real estate agencies and agents in Singapore, emphasising its commitment to raising professional standards, fostering ethical practices, and providing greater support to members.

Along with the name change, SIEA is unveiling its new logo (see Annexe A), which reflects the association’s core values of trust, integrity, professionalism, and progress. The refreshed visual identity indicates a future-focused approach to Singapore’s dynamic real estate scene while honouring the heritage and achievements of its predecessor organisations.

Mr Eugene Lim, President of SIEA, said:

“The transformation from SEAA to the Singapore Institute of Estate Agents (SIEA) marks an exciting new chapter for our industry. We are strengthening our collective voice, raising professional standards, and enhancing the support we provide to our members. Our new identity and logo reflect our vision for a future where estate agents are recognised for their integrity, expertise, and contribution to Singapore’s property market.”

SIEA will continue to represent the interests of real estate agencies and agents, engage with government agencies, and shape public policies impacting the real estate sector. Members can look forward to expanded training, professional development opportunities, and enhanced support services, which will help them navigate an increasingly complex and competitive market.

The institute invites stakeholders, members, and the public to visit its new website at www.siea.org.sg for the latest updates, resources, and information about its initiatives.

About SIEA 新加坡房地产代理协会
The Singapore Institute of Estate Agents (SIEA) was formed to represent the real estate agencies and agents in Singapore and is the leading industry Institute for the real estate agency industry. With the support of the Council for Estate Agencies (CEA) and the major property agencies, SIEA aims to be a cohesive and strong voice for property agencies and agents, advocating for and furthering their common interests.

Driven to uphold the high standards of the real estate agency profession, SIEA ensures that the industry stays relevant and sustainable by promoting continuous learning, skill development, adherence to ethical standards, and professional growth among its 16,000 members.

The Institute also works closely with regulatory bodies and stakeholders to shape real estate policies and laws, while providing ground-up, objective feedback on policies and operational issues faced by consumers, real estate agencies, and agents. It also collaborates with them on industry initiatives that benefit its members.

Previously known as the Singapore Estate Agents Association (SEAA), SIEA was renamed upon the successful coming together with the Institute of Estate Agents (IEA), Singapore, in June 2025.

Media Contact:
Teo Wanting, Assistant General Manager
Singapore Institute of Estate Agents (SIEA)
wanting.teo@seaa.org.sg

Read full press release and Annexe A (new logo design) HERE.

SINGAPORE (EDGEPROP) – The Singapore Institute of Estate Agents (SIEA), the largest industry representative body for real estate salespersons in Singapore, held its inaugural SG Real Estate Agents Excellence Award on Nov 13. The awards recognise the efforts and outstanding performance of individual salespersons. The awards are officially recognised by the Council of Estate Agents (CEA), the industry regulator.

The guests of honour were Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office and Second Minister for Finance and National Development Indranee Rajah and Tan Kiat How, who is the Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of National Development. EdgeProp Singapore was the official media partner for the event.

A total of 387 individual awards were presented during the virtual event, and the categories included the Outstanding Youths Award, the Active Seniors Award for agents over 60 years old, and the Rookies Award for new agents who joined the industry after July 1, 2018. There were also Salesperson Achievement Awards for top earners.

All submissions were evaluated by a panel of four judges, made up of ARA Trust Management CEO Chong Kee Hiong, Singapore Fintech Association president Chia Hock Lai, Fortis Law CEO Patrick Tan and Professor Sing Tien Foo, director of the Institute of Real Estate and Urban Studies at the National University of Singapore.

Advocating agents interests

SIEA represents close to 5,000 members comprising individual real estate salespersons and corporate estate agencies. The industry body was officially registered as a society in 2016 and was formed to represent the interests of real estate agents in Singapore. The association is helmed by its president, Thomas Tan, who is also the chief learning officer of Life Mastery Academy, a CEA-approved course provider.
“SIEA has been growing steadily over the past few years. Last year we had about 4,000 members, and we have grown to about 5,000 members this year. We organised the SG Real Estate Agents Excellence Award specifically to recognise agents at an industry level, and we feel it is a timely event for the industry this year,” says Tan.

He adds that SIEA is an important industry body that voices the interests and concerns of real estate agents to government bodies such as CEA and other industry partners like the Real Estate Developers Association of Singapore (REDAS).

The association has accomplished several milestones over the past few years. It helps smaller estate agencies and individual real estate agents navigate the various compliance and money-laundering regulations related to property transactions. SIEA also has a seat in the government’s Future Economy workgroup for the real estate industry, which helped to roll out standardised contract templates for sales and rental agreements. As a member of the workgroup, SIEA has been promoting digital transformation initiatives to its members.
Recently, SIEA launched training programmes for agents during the “circuit breaker” period, bringing in vendors to teach members basic video courses. “We really tried to encourage them to carry on their marketing activities in a safe way and not to freeze their sales activities,” says Tan.

He adds: “Initially, agents took a while to adopt all the various technologies and digitalisation tools such as virtual tours, but it has been amazing watching how it has gradually been picked up by most of the industry.”
Tan hopes that the award will galvanise more agents to adopt digital tools. “One of the reasons why we came up with these awards is to show agents that there are still success stories in the marketplace. And one of the key drivers for their success is because they were open minded and were the early adopters of digitalisation,” he says.

Recognising professionalism and excellence

According to Tan, the SG Real Estate Agents Excellence Award differs from the accolades given to agents by their respective agencies because the evaluation is not purely based on sales performance. While certain sales benchmarks are included in the criteria, other elements such as client testimonials and a written submission play a significant role in the judging. This ensures that award winners are backed up by good customer reviews, the character of the agent and their sales performance, he adds.

In her opening remarks, Minister Indranee notes: “[The winners] have demonstrated that service excellence and professionalism must go hand-in-hand, in order to deliver good sales performance with high customer satisfaction — a positive and hassle-free property transaction experience for consumers.”
She also mentioned the winners in the Active Seniors category proved that “age is indeed just a number by adapting well to the changes in the industry and property transactions and remaining competitive over the years. Your spirit to continuously improve yourselves has shown that learning is indeed a lifelong journey.”
SIEA says that recognising outstanding real estate agents and highlighting such awards in their resume in the public register will help consumers pick out the right salesperson to represent them. The association says that the track record of good performing agents should also be as visible in the public register as much as disciplinary actions on their record. “This award also gives the winning agents a very good professional image, and this builds consumer confidence and trust in these agents,” says Tan.

He adds that the real estate industry has matured over the past decade since CEA was established in October 2010. “When the regulator was started it needed to send a strong signal to the marketplace as a government regulator, publishing all the management and disciplinary cases prominently. But the industry has matured, and the regulator has matured along with it and I think we need to take a more balanced approach,” says Tan.
Tan, who was recently reappointed to the Disciplinary Board at CEA, says that the nature of complaints against agents are mostly service-related or advertising-oriented. “Gone are the days when issues of dual representations or money lender referrals were prominent,” he notes.

His observations were also echoed by Minister Indranee, who adds: “Over the past 10 years, the industry has become more disciplined, more professional and more trusted. Consumers have also affirmed property agents’ service excellence and professionalism. We have seen a decline in the number of complaints against property agencies and agents over time, from 1,170 cases in 2011 to 777 cases in 2019. So that’s a drop of about 34%, which is good.”

Looking ahead, Tan says that agents will remain an indispensable part of the real estate industry ecosystem, even as digital tools such as property portals, virtual tours, and online document submissions become more prevalent.

“Digital tools are a very good enabler, but they do not totally replace the function of real estate agents who remain critical advisors to home buyers and sellers. Digital tools enhance productivity, and this allows agents more time to give better customer relations.” He adds that this will transform the role of property agents into an advisory role in the future.

Click HERE to read on partner site

SINGAPORE (EDGEPROP) – The Singapore Institute of Estate Agents (SIEA), the largest industry representative body for real estate salespersons in Singapore, held its inaugural SG Real Estate Agents Excellence Award on Nov 13. The awards recognise the efforts and outstanding performance of individual salespersons. The awards are officially recognised by the Council of Estate Agents (CEA), the industry regulator.

The guests of honour were Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office and Second Minister for Finance and National Development Indranee Rajah and Tan Kiat How, who is the Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of National Development. EdgeProp Singapore was the official media partner for the event.

A total of 387 individual awards were presented during the virtual event, and the categories included the Outstanding Youths Award, the Active Seniors Award for agents over 60 years old, and the Rookies Award for new agents who joined the industry after July 1, 2018. There were also Salesperson Achievement Awards for top earners.

All submissions were evaluated by a panel of four judges, made up of ARA Trust Management CEO Chong Kee Hiong, Singapore Fintech Association president Chia Hock Lai, Fortis Law CEO Patrick Tan and Professor Sing Tien Foo, director of the Institute of Real Estate and Urban Studies at the National University of Singapore.

Advocating agents interests

SIEA represents close to 5,000 members comprising individual real estate salespersons and corporate estate agencies. The industry body was officially registered as a society in 2016 and was formed to represent the interests of real estate agents in Singapore. The association is helmed by its president, Thomas Tan, who is also the chief learning officer of Life Mastery Academy, a CEA-approved course provider.
“SIEA has been growing steadily over the past few years. Last year we had about 4,000 members, and we have grown to about 5,000 members this year. We organised the SG Real Estate Agents Excellence Award specifically to recognise agents at an industry level, and we feel it is a timely event for the industry this year,” says Tan.

He adds that SIEA is an important industry body that voices the interests and concerns of real estate agents to government bodies such as CEA and other industry partners like the Real Estate Developers Association of Singapore (REDAS).

The association has accomplished several milestones over the past few years. It helps smaller estate agencies and individual real estate agents navigate the various compliance and money-laundering regulations related to property transactions. SIEA also has a seat in the government’s Future Economy workgroup for the real estate industry, which helped to roll out standardised contract templates for sales and rental agreements. As a member of the workgroup, SIEA has been promoting digital transformation initiatives to its members.
Recently, SIEA launched training programmes for agents during the “circuit breaker” period, bringing in vendors to teach members basic video courses. “We really tried to encourage them to carry on their marketing activities in a safe way and not to freeze their sales activities,” says Tan.

He adds: “Initially, agents took a while to adopt all the various technologies and digitalisation tools such as virtual tours, but it has been amazing watching how it has gradually been picked up by most of the industry.”
Tan hopes that the award will galvanise more agents to adopt digital tools. “One of the reasons why we came up with these awards is to show agents that there are still success stories in the marketplace. And one of the key drivers for their success is because they were open minded and were the early adopters of digitalisation,” he says.

Recognising professionalism and excellence

According to Tan, the SG Real Estate Agents Excellence Award differs from the accolades given to agents by their respective agencies because the evaluation is not purely based on sales performance. While certain sales benchmarks are included in the criteria, other elements such as client testimonials and a written submission play a significant role in the judging. This ensures that award winners are backed up by good customer reviews, the character of the agent and their sales performance, he adds.

In her opening remarks, Minister Indranee notes: “[The winners] have demonstrated that service excellence and professionalism must go hand-in-hand, in order to deliver good sales performance with high customer satisfaction — a positive and hassle-free property transaction experience for consumers.”
She also mentioned the winners in the Active Seniors category proved that “age is indeed just a number by adapting well to the changes in the industry and property transactions and remaining competitive over the years. Your spirit to continuously improve yourselves has shown that learning is indeed a lifelong journey.”
SIEA says that recognising outstanding real estate agents and highlighting such awards in their resume in the public register will help consumers pick out the right salesperson to represent them. The association says that the track record of good performing agents should also be as visible in the public register as much as disciplinary actions on their record. “This award also gives the winning agents a very good professional image, and this builds consumer confidence and trust in these agents,” says Tan.

He adds that the real estate industry has matured over the past decade since CEA was established in October 2010. “When the regulator was started it needed to send a strong signal to the marketplace as a government regulator, publishing all the management and disciplinary cases prominently. But the industry has matured, and the regulator has matured along with it and I think we need to take a more balanced approach,” says Tan.
Tan, who was recently reappointed to the Disciplinary Board at CEA, says that the nature of complaints against agents are mostly service-related or advertising-oriented. “Gone are the days when issues of dual representations or money lender referrals were prominent,” he notes.

His observations were also echoed by Minister Indranee, who adds: “Over the past 10 years, the industry has become more disciplined, more professional and more trusted. Consumers have also affirmed property agents’ service excellence and professionalism. We have seen a decline in the number of complaints against property agencies and agents over time, from 1,170 cases in 2011 to 777 cases in 2019. So that’s a drop of about 34%, which is good.”

Looking ahead, Tan says that agents will remain an indispensable part of the real estate industry ecosystem, even as digital tools such as property portals, virtual tours, and online document submissions become more prevalent.

“Digital tools are a very good enabler, but they do not totally replace the function of real estate agents who remain critical advisors to home buyers and sellers. Digital tools enhance productivity, and this allows agents more time to give better customer relations.” He adds that this will transform the role of property agents into an advisory role in the future.

Click HERE to read on partner site

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) has been signed today among four parties in the
real estate agency industry: Century 21 Singapore Holdings Pte Ltd (Century 21),
LandPLUS Property Network Pte Ltd (LandPLUS), Your Estate Specialist LLP (YES)
and the Singapore Estate Agents Association (SEAA). This strategic partnership aims to
establish a robust framework to empower Salespersons aspiring to become Key Executive
Officers (KEOs) and lead their own real estate agencies.

The MOU signifies the parties’ shared commitment to fostering entrepreneurial growth in the
industry. It seeks to guide and support Salespersons in meeting the Council for Estate
Agencies (CEA) requirements for the Real Estate Agency (REA) certification. This
certification enables eligible individuals to apply for their CEA agency licence and assume
the role of KEOs, provided they meet the necessary fit-and-proper criteria.

The collaboration focuses on achieving the following key objectives:

Entrepreneurial Opportunities and Mentorship

Century 21, LandPLUS and YES will offer franchising opportunities and mentorship programs
to equip aspiring KEOs with the tools needed for successful agency licence registration and
operational management.

Comprehensive Training and Development

As individuals must obtain the REA industry certification to register for the CEA agency
license, SEAA will provide the mandatory REA course training, ensuring participants gain
valuable insights into industry regulations, policies, and best practices. This training will be
pivotal in preparing participants for the REA examination and their entrepreneurial journeys.

The above structured training and mentorship will prepare Salespersons to establish and
manage their own real estate businesses while adhering to Singapore’s regulatory standards.
The partnership’s collaborative approach will unlock new opportunities for individuals to thrive
as industry leaders. SEAA will continue to engage with other franchisors or agencies
interested in the programme to collaborate and sign a similar MOU.

Ms Heng Li Li, Founder of LandPLUS said “This collaboration reflects our shared vision of
empowering real estate professionals to achieve their entrepreneurial aspirations.”

Mr Winston Woon, Franchise Manager of Century 21 said “By combining our expertise, we
are creating a strong foundation for the next generation of real estate leaders.”

Mr Benson Leow, KEO of YES said “We are thrilled to offer mentorship and opportunities that
align with our mission to grow the industry sustainably.”

Mr Adam Wang, President of SEAA said “Through this partnership, SEAA reaffirms its
commitment to nurturing talent and raising professional standards within the real estate
community.”

About SEAA
The Singapore Estate Agents Association (SEAA) was formed to represent the property
agencies and property agents in Singapore and is the leading industry association for the
real estate agency industry. With the support from Council for Estate Agencies (CEA) and
the major property agencies, SEAA aims to be a cohesively strong voice for property
agencies and agents and to advocate and further their common interests.
Driven to promulgate and maintain the high standards of the real estate agency profession,
SEAA ensures that the industry remains relevant and sustainable by promoting continuous
learning, upgrading, ethical standards and professional development amongst its 15,000
members. The Association also works closely with the regulatory bodies and stakeholders
on industry initiatives that benefit its members. For more information on SEAA and our REA
course, please visit www.seaa.org.sg.

For further information, please contact:
Ms Teo Wanting
Assistant General Manager, SEAA
HP: 90407180
Email: wanting.teo@seaa.org.sg

SINGAPORE (EDGEPROP) – The Singapore Institute of Estate Agents (SIEA), the largest industry representative body for real estate salespersons in Singapore, held its inaugural SG Real Estate Agents Excellence Award on Nov 13. The awards recognise the efforts and outstanding performance of individual salespersons. The awards are officially recognised by the Council of Estate Agents (CEA), the industry regulator.

The guests of honour were Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office and Second Minister for Finance and National Development Indranee Rajah and Tan Kiat How, who is the Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of National Development. EdgeProp Singapore was the official media partner for the event.

A total of 387 individual awards were presented during the virtual event, and the categories included the Outstanding Youths Award, the Active Seniors Award for agents over 60 years old, and the Rookies Award for new agents who joined the industry after July 1, 2018. There were also Salesperson Achievement Awards for top earners.

All submissions were evaluated by a panel of four judges, made up of ARA Trust Management CEO Chong Kee Hiong, Singapore Fintech Association president Chia Hock Lai, Fortis Law CEO Patrick Tan and Professor Sing Tien Foo, director of the Institute of Real Estate and Urban Studies at the National University of Singapore.

Advocating agents interests

SIEA represents close to 5,000 members comprising individual real estate salespersons and corporate estate agencies. The industry body was officially registered as a society in 2016 and was formed to represent the interests of real estate agents in Singapore. The association is helmed by its president, Thomas Tan, who is also the chief learning officer of Life Mastery Academy, a CEA-approved course provider.
“SIEA has been growing steadily over the past few years. Last year we had about 4,000 members, and we have grown to about 5,000 members this year. We organised the SG Real Estate Agents Excellence Award specifically to recognise agents at an industry level, and we feel it is a timely event for the industry this year,” says Tan.

He adds that SIEA is an important industry body that voices the interests and concerns of real estate agents to government bodies such as CEA and other industry partners like the Real Estate Developers Association of Singapore (REDAS).

The association has accomplished several milestones over the past few years. It helps smaller estate agencies and individual real estate agents navigate the various compliance and money-laundering regulations related to property transactions. SIEA also has a seat in the government’s Future Economy workgroup for the real estate industry, which helped to roll out standardised contract templates for sales and rental agreements. As a member of the workgroup, SIEA has been promoting digital transformation initiatives to its members.
Recently, SIEA launched training programmes for agents during the “circuit breaker” period, bringing in vendors to teach members basic video courses. “We really tried to encourage them to carry on their marketing activities in a safe way and not to freeze their sales activities,” says Tan.

He adds: “Initially, agents took a while to adopt all the various technologies and digitalisation tools such as virtual tours, but it has been amazing watching how it has gradually been picked up by most of the industry.”
Tan hopes that the award will galvanise more agents to adopt digital tools. “One of the reasons why we came up with these awards is to show agents that there are still success stories in the marketplace. And one of the key drivers for their success is because they were open minded and were the early adopters of digitalisation,” he says.

Recognising professionalism and excellence

According to Tan, the SG Real Estate Agents Excellence Award differs from the accolades given to agents by their respective agencies because the evaluation is not purely based on sales performance. While certain sales benchmarks are included in the criteria, other elements such as client testimonials and a written submission play a significant role in the judging. This ensures that award winners are backed up by good customer reviews, the character of the agent and their sales performance, he adds.

In her opening remarks, Minister Indranee notes: “[The winners] have demonstrated that service excellence and professionalism must go hand-in-hand, in order to deliver good sales performance with high customer satisfaction — a positive and hassle-free property transaction experience for consumers.”
She also mentioned the winners in the Active Seniors category proved that “age is indeed just a number by adapting well to the changes in the industry and property transactions and remaining competitive over the years. Your spirit to continuously improve yourselves has shown that learning is indeed a lifelong journey.”
SIEA says that recognising outstanding real estate agents and highlighting such awards in their resume in the public register will help consumers pick out the right salesperson to represent them. The association says that the track record of good performing agents should also be as visible in the public register as much as disciplinary actions on their record. “This award also gives the winning agents a very good professional image, and this builds consumer confidence and trust in these agents,” says Tan.

He adds that the real estate industry has matured over the past decade since CEA was established in October 2010. “When the regulator was started it needed to send a strong signal to the marketplace as a government regulator, publishing all the management and disciplinary cases prominently. But the industry has matured, and the regulator has matured along with it and I think we need to take a more balanced approach,” says Tan.
Tan, who was recently reappointed to the Disciplinary Board at CEA, says that the nature of complaints against agents are mostly service-related or advertising-oriented. “Gone are the days when issues of dual representations or money lender referrals were prominent,” he notes.

His observations were also echoed by Minister Indranee, who adds: “Over the past 10 years, the industry has become more disciplined, more professional and more trusted. Consumers have also affirmed property agents’ service excellence and professionalism. We have seen a decline in the number of complaints against property agencies and agents over time, from 1,170 cases in 2011 to 777 cases in 2019. So that’s a drop of about 34%, which is good.”

Looking ahead, Tan says that agents will remain an indispensable part of the real estate industry ecosystem, even as digital tools such as property portals, virtual tours, and online document submissions become more prevalent.

“Digital tools are a very good enabler, but they do not totally replace the function of real estate agents who remain critical advisors to home buyers and sellers. Digital tools enhance productivity, and this allows agents more time to give better customer relations.” He adds that this will transform the role of property agents into an advisory role in the future.

Click HERE to read on partner site

SINGAPORE (EDGEPROP) – The Singapore Institute of Estate Agents (SIEA), the largest industry representative body for real estate salespersons in Singapore, held its inaugural SG Real Estate Agents Excellence Award on Nov 13. The awards recognise the efforts and outstanding performance of individual salespersons. The awards are officially recognised by the Council of Estate Agents (CEA), the industry regulator.

The guests of honour were Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office and Second Minister for Finance and National Development Indranee Rajah and Tan Kiat How, who is the Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of National Development. EdgeProp Singapore was the official media partner for the event.

A total of 387 individual awards were presented during the virtual event, and the categories included the Outstanding Youths Award, the Active Seniors Award for agents over 60 years old, and the Rookies Award for new agents who joined the industry after July 1, 2018. There were also Salesperson Achievement Awards for top earners.

All submissions were evaluated by a panel of four judges, made up of ARA Trust Management CEO Chong Kee Hiong, Singapore Fintech Association president Chia Hock Lai, Fortis Law CEO Patrick Tan and Professor Sing Tien Foo, director of the Institute of Real Estate and Urban Studies at the National University of Singapore.

Advocating agents interests

SIEA represents close to 5,000 members comprising individual real estate salespersons and corporate estate agencies. The industry body was officially registered as a society in 2016 and was formed to represent the interests of real estate agents in Singapore. The association is helmed by its president, Thomas Tan, who is also the chief learning officer of Life Mastery Academy, a CEA-approved course provider.
“SIEA has been growing steadily over the past few years. Last year we had about 4,000 members, and we have grown to about 5,000 members this year. We organised the SG Real Estate Agents Excellence Award specifically to recognise agents at an industry level, and we feel it is a timely event for the industry this year,” says Tan.

He adds that SIEA is an important industry body that voices the interests and concerns of real estate agents to government bodies such as CEA and other industry partners like the Real Estate Developers Association of Singapore (REDAS).

The association has accomplished several milestones over the past few years. It helps smaller estate agencies and individual real estate agents navigate the various compliance and money-laundering regulations related to property transactions. SIEA also has a seat in the government’s Future Economy workgroup for the real estate industry, which helped to roll out standardised contract templates for sales and rental agreements. As a member of the workgroup, SIEA has been promoting digital transformation initiatives to its members.
Recently, SIEA launched training programmes for agents during the “circuit breaker” period, bringing in vendors to teach members basic video courses. “We really tried to encourage them to carry on their marketing activities in a safe way and not to freeze their sales activities,” says Tan.

He adds: “Initially, agents took a while to adopt all the various technologies and digitalisation tools such as virtual tours, but it has been amazing watching how it has gradually been picked up by most of the industry.”
Tan hopes that the award will galvanise more agents to adopt digital tools. “One of the reasons why we came up with these awards is to show agents that there are still success stories in the marketplace. And one of the key drivers for their success is because they were open minded and were the early adopters of digitalisation,” he says.

Recognising professionalism and excellence

According to Tan, the SG Real Estate Agents Excellence Award differs from the accolades given to agents by their respective agencies because the evaluation is not purely based on sales performance. While certain sales benchmarks are included in the criteria, other elements such as client testimonials and a written submission play a significant role in the judging. This ensures that award winners are backed up by good customer reviews, the character of the agent and their sales performance, he adds.

In her opening remarks, Minister Indranee notes: “[The winners] have demonstrated that service excellence and professionalism must go hand-in-hand, in order to deliver good sales performance with high customer satisfaction — a positive and hassle-free property transaction experience for consumers.”
She also mentioned the winners in the Active Seniors category proved that “age is indeed just a number by adapting well to the changes in the industry and property transactions and remaining competitive over the years. Your spirit to continuously improve yourselves has shown that learning is indeed a lifelong journey.”
SIEA says that recognising outstanding real estate agents and highlighting such awards in their resume in the public register will help consumers pick out the right salesperson to represent them. The association says that the track record of good performing agents should also be as visible in the public register as much as disciplinary actions on their record. “This award also gives the winning agents a very good professional image, and this builds consumer confidence and trust in these agents,” says Tan.

He adds that the real estate industry has matured over the past decade since CEA was established in October 2010. “When the regulator was started it needed to send a strong signal to the marketplace as a government regulator, publishing all the management and disciplinary cases prominently. But the industry has matured, and the regulator has matured along with it and I think we need to take a more balanced approach,” says Tan.
Tan, who was recently reappointed to the Disciplinary Board at CEA, says that the nature of complaints against agents are mostly service-related or advertising-oriented. “Gone are the days when issues of dual representations or money lender referrals were prominent,” he notes.

His observations were also echoed by Minister Indranee, who adds: “Over the past 10 years, the industry has become more disciplined, more professional and more trusted. Consumers have also affirmed property agents’ service excellence and professionalism. We have seen a decline in the number of complaints against property agencies and agents over time, from 1,170 cases in 2011 to 777 cases in 2019. So that’s a drop of about 34%, which is good.”

Looking ahead, Tan says that agents will remain an indispensable part of the real estate industry ecosystem, even as digital tools such as property portals, virtual tours, and online document submissions become more prevalent.

“Digital tools are a very good enabler, but they do not totally replace the function of real estate agents who remain critical advisors to home buyers and sellers. Digital tools enhance productivity, and this allows agents more time to give better customer relations.” He adds that this will transform the role of property agents into an advisory role in the future.

Click HERE to read on partner site

PRESS RELEASE
14 NOVEMBER 2023

Singapore Institute of Estate Agents (SIEA) is proud to announce the signing of two Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) at our Singapore KEOs and Leaders Conference 2023 held at Lifelong Learning Institute, Lecture Theatre on 14 November 2023. These agreements mark a significant step towards fostering cooperation and setting a new milestone in the real estate agency industry and SIEA is excited to be at the forefront of these collaborations.

The event was attended by Guest-of-Honour, Associate Professor Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim, Minister of State, Ministry of Home Affairs & Ministry of National Development. It also brought together key players and stakeholders from the real estate agency industry to witness the official signing of the two MOUs that seek to shape the future of the industry in Singapore.

MOU 1
Signed between SIEA and the Law Society of Singapore, this MOU promotes the usage of the Law Society of Singapore’s ADR (alternative dispute resolution) Schemes, including their Mediation and Arbitration Scheme by SIEA Members, for all disputes arising from Co-broking arrangements between Property Agencies and Property Agents. Partnering with Law Society, SIEA members will be able to adopt this resolution schemes at affordable rates.

MOU 2
Signed between SIEA and selected Property Agencies (see Annex 2), this MOU covers the following:
1) Co-operation & Collaboration
SIEA shall partner the Property Agency in offering one-year complimentary Associate Membership to all their Property Agents

2) Dispute Resolution Scheme
It seeks to promote and further use of the mediation and arbitration schemes offered by SIEA and its appointed Dispute Resolution partner, Law Society of Singapore as first port of call for all disputes arising from Co-broking arrangements between Property Agencies and Property Agents. This is with effect from 01st January 2024

When a commission dispute arises between property agents especially from different agencies, it is sometimes difficult for both the agencies to handle on the salesperson’s behalf as large part of the commission goes to the salespersons and their stakes are higher. Together with the Law Society of Singapore, SIEA as a leading industry association could step in to facilitate to resolve such disputes when the agencies are in the difficult position to do so.

3) Best Practice Guide on Co-broking Commission
For Property Agencies and all their Property Agents to adopt best practice guide on co-broking commission, with effect from 01st July 2024. Please refer to Annex 1, Document no: BPG/SIEA/2023/10/28.

There is no uniformity in the current practice of how property agents are renumerated which causes pain points. For example, in some sale transactions, the seller will pay the commission to the property agent representing them. As for the buyer, it is up to their discretion if they want to pay commission to the property agent who represents them. If the buyer does not pay the commission to their property agent, then their agent will negotiate with the seller’s agent to share the commission. This creates potential conflict of interest as the buyer’s agent is now in the dilemma of deciding to put the clients’ interest first or to protect their commission. The same applies for rental transactions.

In many other jurisdictions around the world, the concept of real estate representation is very clear; Agents should collect commission from who he or she represents, i.e., Seller’s agent to collect from seller, Buyer’s agent to collect from the buyer. The same applies to tenancy commission, Landlord’s agents will collect from landlords, and Tenant’s agents from tenants. This is the arrangement the MOU seeks to achieve.

SIEA’s President, Mr Adam Wang, expressed his excitement about these partnerships: “We are thrilled to be joining hands with Law Society of Singapore to offer mediation and arbitration schemes to our members. These schemes can help our members save time and costs as well as achieve better outcomes for any disputes they may face between property agents or property agencies on co-broking matters.

As for the MOU with the Property Agencies, we are advocating the industry to work together as one and getting property agents renumerated by the clients they represent. This recommended practice will help to resolve long-standing issues and we would like to thank all the property agencies involved for their support. We look forward to a future of exciting developments in our industry.”

President of Law Society, Mr Jason Chan SC said “Law Society of Singapore is excited to work with SIEA to offer our mediation and arbitration schemes to their members. The schemes are designed to resolve the disputes quickly and efficiently. All our panels comprise experienced, accredited legal practitioners who possess a deep understanding of the industry.”

Mr Lim Yong Hock, KEO of PropNex voiced “We are happy to see SIEA take the lead in gathering the Property Agencies in the industry to adopt best practice guide on co-broking commission. This move will address many issues in the industry and bring about more opportunities for the property agents.”

KEO of ERA, Mr Eugene Lim said “It is always not easy to change current practices and mindsets of the stakeholders. However, change is a necessity if it is for the betterment of the industry, and we see the best practice guide on co-broking commission as something we should work towards.”

Annex 1: Best Practice Guide for Co-Broking Commission

About SIEA
The Singapore Institute of Estate Agents (SIEA) was formed to represent the property agencies and property agents in Singapore and is the leading industry association for the real estate agency industry. With the support from Council for Estate Agencies (CEA) and the major property agencies, SIEA aims to be a cohesively strong voice for property agencies and agents and to advocate and further their common interests.

Driven to promulgate and maintain the high standards of the real estate agency profession, SIEA ensures that the industry remains relevant and sustainable by promoting continuous learning, upgrading, ethical standards and professional development amongst its 6500 members. The Association also works closely with the regulatory bodies and stakeholders on industry initiatives that benefit its members. For more information, please visit www.seaa.org.sg

For further information, please contact:
Ms Teo Wanting
Senior Manager, SIEA
HP: 90407180
Email: wanting.teo@seaa.org.sg

Key initiatives to future-proof real estate sector unveiled at SIEA Excellence Awards

SINGAPORE (EDGEPROP) – A slew of industry initiatives and updates were announced during the Singapore Institute of Estate Agents (SIEA) SG Real Estate Agents Excellence Awards on Sept 9.
This was the third consecutive year the awards were organised by SIEA, the largest representative body for real estate salespersons in Singapore. The event recognises outstanding performance by real estate agents in Singapore.

The event was graced by Tan Kiat How, Senior Minister of State for National Development and for Communications and Information. In his opening speech, he also unveiled key initiatives under the Real Estate Industry Transformation Map 2025 (ITM 2025).

ITM 2025

The ITM 2025 is an industry roadmap featuring sector-wide strategies that aim to better prepare the real estate industry to be future-ready. The Council for Estate Agencies (CEA), the industry regulator for real estate salespersons, will drive the implementation of the ITM 2025 alongside industry partners and stakeholders.

“I thank all industry leaders and partners in the real estate sector for actively contributing to discussions and collectively shaping the Real Estate ITM 2025. Our vision is that consumers will be served by property agents who are client-centric and professional and who will uphold the highest standards of integrity,” says Tan.

The ITM 2025 will focus on three strategies: improve the digitalisation of property transaction processes, promote a more widespread technology adoption among property agencies, and enhance the value-add of agents through a new framework of skills development.

Recognising top achievers

The SIEA SG Real Estate Agents Excellence Awards saw more than 600 award participants from large to boutique-sized agencies. This is the third year that the awards have been organised.
“Many of our awardees are already stellar performers in their agencies. We are glad that [the event] helps to elevate the profile of salesperson on the national level, on top of the many awards that they received from their agencies,” says Adam Wang, president of SIEA.
Some of the award categories include the Outstanding Youths Award, the Rookies Award, and the Senior Achievers Award. Other salesperson achievement awards were presented to more than 600 recipients.

“The publishing of the award received by the awardees on their respective profiles on CEA Public Register amplifies their exemplary performance in sales and rental transactions for the year 2021, and I am sure the prestige of the awards will spur their peers to do better next year,” says Wang.
SIEA also unveiled a refreshed logo at the event. Retaining the multi-colour design of the previous logo, the new SIEA logo is meant to project the “futuristic and uplifting energy of the association”, says SIEA. The new design “represents a forward-moving association, as we aspire to move with the latest technology and better benefits for our members and partners”, says Wang.

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Key initiatives to future-proof real estate sector unveiled at SIEA Excellence Awards

SINGAPORE (EDGEPROP) – A slew of industry initiatives and updates were announced during the Singapore Institute of Estate Agents (SIEA) SG Real Estate Agents Excellence Awards on Sept 9.
This was the third consecutive year the awards were organised by SIEA, the largest representative body for real estate salespersons in Singapore. The event recognises outstanding performance by real estate agents in Singapore.

The event was graced by Tan Kiat How, Senior Minister of State for National Development and for Communications and Information. In his opening speech, he also unveiled key initiatives under the Real Estate Industry Transformation Map 2025 (ITM 2025).

ITM 2025

The ITM 2025 is an industry roadmap featuring sector-wide strategies that aim to better prepare the real estate industry to be future-ready. The Council for Estate Agencies (CEA), the industry regulator for real estate salespersons, will drive the implementation of the ITM 2025 alongside industry partners and stakeholders.

“I thank all industry leaders and partners in the real estate sector for actively contributing to discussions and collectively shaping the Real Estate ITM 2025. Our vision is that consumers will be served by property agents who are client-centric and professional and who will uphold the highest standards of integrity,” says Tan.

The ITM 2025 will focus on three strategies: improve the digitalisation of property transaction processes, promote a more widespread technology adoption among property agencies, and enhance the value-add of agents through a new framework of skills development.

Recognising top achievers

The SIEA SG Real Estate Agents Excellence Awards saw more than 600 award participants from large to boutique-sized agencies. This is the third year that the awards have been organised.
“Many of our awardees are already stellar performers in their agencies. We are glad that [the event] helps to elevate the profile of salesperson on the national level, on top of the many awards that they received from their agencies,” says Adam Wang, president of SIEA.
Some of the award categories include the Outstanding Youths Award, the Rookies Award, and the Senior Achievers Award. Other salesperson achievement awards were presented to more than 600 recipients.

“The publishing of the award received by the awardees on their respective profiles on CEA Public Register amplifies their exemplary performance in sales and rental transactions for the year 2021, and I am sure the prestige of the awards will spur their peers to do better next year,” says Wang.
SIEA also unveiled a refreshed logo at the event. Retaining the multi-colour design of the previous logo, the new SIEA logo is meant to project the “futuristic and uplifting energy of the association”, says SIEA. The new design “represents a forward-moving association, as we aspire to move with the latest technology and better benefits for our members and partners”, says Wang.

Click HERE to read article on partner’s site

SINGAPORE (EDGEPROP) – The Singapore Institute of Estate Agents (SIEA), the largest industry representative body for real estate salespersons in Singapore, held its inaugural SG Real Estate Agents Excellence Award on Nov 13. The awards recognise the efforts and outstanding performance of individual salespersons. The awards are officially recognised by the Council of Estate Agents (CEA), the industry regulator.

The guests of honour were Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office and Second Minister for Finance and National Development Indranee Rajah and Tan Kiat How, who is the Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of National Development. EdgeProp Singapore was the official media partner for the event.

A total of 387 individual awards were presented during the virtual event, and the categories included the Outstanding Youths Award, the Active Seniors Award for agents over 60 years old, and the Rookies Award for new agents who joined the industry after July 1, 2018. There were also Salesperson Achievement Awards for top earners.

All submissions were evaluated by a panel of four judges, made up of ARA Trust Management CEO Chong Kee Hiong, Singapore Fintech Association president Chia Hock Lai, Fortis Law CEO Patrick Tan and Professor Sing Tien Foo, director of the Institute of Real Estate and Urban Studies at the National University of Singapore.

Advocating agents interests

SIEA represents close to 5,000 members comprising individual real estate salespersons and corporate estate agencies. The industry body was officially registered as a society in 2016 and was formed to represent the interests of real estate agents in Singapore. The association is helmed by its president, Thomas Tan, who is also the chief learning officer of Life Mastery Academy, a CEA-approved course provider.
“SIEA has been growing steadily over the past few years. Last year we had about 4,000 members, and we have grown to about 5,000 members this year. We organised the SG Real Estate Agents Excellence Award specifically to recognise agents at an industry level, and we feel it is a timely event for the industry this year,” says Tan.

He adds that SIEA is an important industry body that voices the interests and concerns of real estate agents to government bodies such as CEA and other industry partners like the Real Estate Developers Association of Singapore (REDAS).

The association has accomplished several milestones over the past few years. It helps smaller estate agencies and individual real estate agents navigate the various compliance and money-laundering regulations related to property transactions. SIEA also has a seat in the government’s Future Economy workgroup for the real estate industry, which helped to roll out standardised contract templates for sales and rental agreements. As a member of the workgroup, SIEA has been promoting digital transformation initiatives to its members.
Recently, SIEA launched training programmes for agents during the “circuit breaker” period, bringing in vendors to teach members basic video courses. “We really tried to encourage them to carry on their marketing activities in a safe way and not to freeze their sales activities,” says Tan.

He adds: “Initially, agents took a while to adopt all the various technologies and digitalisation tools such as virtual tours, but it has been amazing watching how it has gradually been picked up by most of the industry.”
Tan hopes that the award will galvanise more agents to adopt digital tools. “One of the reasons why we came up with these awards is to show agents that there are still success stories in the marketplace. And one of the key drivers for their success is because they were open minded and were the early adopters of digitalisation,” he says.

Recognising professionalism and excellence

According to Tan, the SG Real Estate Agents Excellence Award differs from the accolades given to agents by their respective agencies because the evaluation is not purely based on sales performance. While certain sales benchmarks are included in the criteria, other elements such as client testimonials and a written submission play a significant role in the judging. This ensures that award winners are backed up by good customer reviews, the character of the agent and their sales performance, he adds.

In her opening remarks, Minister Indranee notes: “[The winners] have demonstrated that service excellence and professionalism must go hand-in-hand, in order to deliver good sales performance with high customer satisfaction — a positive and hassle-free property transaction experience for consumers.”
She also mentioned the winners in the Active Seniors category proved that “age is indeed just a number by adapting well to the changes in the industry and property transactions and remaining competitive over the years. Your spirit to continuously improve yourselves has shown that learning is indeed a lifelong journey.”
SIEA says that recognising outstanding real estate agents and highlighting such awards in their resume in the public register will help consumers pick out the right salesperson to represent them. The association says that the track record of good performing agents should also be as visible in the public register as much as disciplinary actions on their record. “This award also gives the winning agents a very good professional image, and this builds consumer confidence and trust in these agents,” says Tan.

He adds that the real estate industry has matured over the past decade since CEA was established in October 2010. “When the regulator was started it needed to send a strong signal to the marketplace as a government regulator, publishing all the management and disciplinary cases prominently. But the industry has matured, and the regulator has matured along with it and I think we need to take a more balanced approach,” says Tan.
Tan, who was recently reappointed to the Disciplinary Board at CEA, says that the nature of complaints against agents are mostly service-related or advertising-oriented. “Gone are the days when issues of dual representations or money lender referrals were prominent,” he notes.

His observations were also echoed by Minister Indranee, who adds: “Over the past 10 years, the industry has become more disciplined, more professional and more trusted. Consumers have also affirmed property agents’ service excellence and professionalism. We have seen a decline in the number of complaints against property agencies and agents over time, from 1,170 cases in 2011 to 777 cases in 2019. So that’s a drop of about 34%, which is good.”

Looking ahead, Tan says that agents will remain an indispensable part of the real estate industry ecosystem, even as digital tools such as property portals, virtual tours, and online document submissions become more prevalent.

“Digital tools are a very good enabler, but they do not totally replace the function of real estate agents who remain critical advisors to home buyers and sellers. Digital tools enhance productivity, and this allows agents more time to give better customer relations.” He adds that this will transform the role of property agents into an advisory role in the future.

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