Real Estate Agent or Broker or Realtor? What Singapore Calls Them, and Who Is Licensed

The words people search for come from the US. Singapore's Estate Agents Act uses two of its own, and CEA's consumer pages use two everyday ones for the same roles:

In practice, the person who shows you a flat is one of an agency's registered salespersons, whatever the name card calls them, and the agency holds the licence behind them. CEA puts it plainly: "All property agents in Singapore must be registered with the Council for Estate Agencies (CEA) through a licensed property agency" (CEA).

In Singapore, the licence sits with the firm; the registration sits with the person.

Section 3 of the Estate Agents Act defines the two roles (SSO):

• Estate agent: "a person who does estate agency work, whether or not the person carries on that or any other business". Estate agency work means introducing someone to a buyer, seller, landlord or tenant, negotiating the deal, and the work that follows, done in the course of business or for a fee.
• Salespersons: individuals who do estate agency work "in the course of his or her employment or engagement (whether under a contract of service or contract for service) by an estate agent; or ... as a director or limited liability partner of an estate agent".

The Act then puts a licence on one and a registration on the other (SSO):

• Section 28: no one may "act as an estate agent" unless licensed.
• Section 29: no one may work as one of a licensed estate agent's salespersons unless registered. The law is explicit that registered salespersons working solely as salespersons do not need an estate agent's licence, and that a licensed estate agent does not need to register as one of them.

So in everyday Singapore speech the people are the agents; in the Act, the people are salespersons and the firm is the estate agent. CEA's consumer pages bridge the two by calling them "property agents" and "property agencies" (CEA).

Ask for two things: the agency's licence and the person's registration. The law requires both.

CEA's own steps (CEA):

1. Go to the CEA Public Register and "key in the phone number of the person you are dealing with, or the phone number advertised."
2. No profile, no deal. "If the search does not lead to a property agent’s profile page, it means that the phone number is not registered with CEA. It is likely a scam even though the property agent’s name and registration number can be found on the CEA Public Register".
3. Read the profile. It shows whether the registration is valid, "The residential property transactions they have faciliated [sic] in the last two years, and which parties they represented", awards, and "If the property agent has any disciplinary records".
4. Match the advert. Most property ads must carry the "Property agent’s name, CEA registration number, and phone number · Property agency’s name and CEA licence number"; newspaper classifieds and phone text ads need only the name and phone number.

PropKaki keeps its own copy of CEA's register, last verified on 11 August 2026: the Property Agent Finder shows registered salespersons' recorded deals by town and property type, and the Property Agency Finder lists every agency with its salespersons and deals. For what an AI assistant can and cannot check, see can AI check your property agent.

Check the phone number, not just the name: scammers borrow real names.

CEA's consumer guidance (CEA): "Once the property transaction is completed, you will need to honour the deal and pay the agreed commission. You should only make payment to the property agency, and not to the property agent."

Three rules sit behind that:

• The contract is with the agency. CEA's Prescribed Estate Agency Agreement "is a binding contract between you and the property agency to protect the interests of both parties."
• Salespersons may not hold your money. "It is an offence for property agents to handle transaction monies in general", and for a sale that covers the "Option fee · Option exercise fee · Down payment · Stamp duties · Deposits and sale proceeds · Legal fees"; for an HDB rental, "Rental deposits · Monthly rent". CEA adds that "Valuation fees and agent commissions are not considered transaction monies in general."
• One side only. A property agent "cannot represent and collect commission from both parties in the property transaction, e.g., buyer and seller, landlord and tenant, which is an offence."

Commission goes to the agency; everything else goes straight to whoever is owed it.

CEA's consumer guidance (CEA): "Commissions are not fixed, and you are free to negotiate the amount or rate. You will also need to clarify if GST is included or excluded in the commission to be paid. Only GST-registered property agencies can charge GST."

The agreement type changes what you owe:

Source: CEA, as above.

The rate is yours to negotiate; the agreement decides when you owe it.

Counted from PropKaki's copy of CEA's public register, verified on 11 August 2026 (salespersons on the register at that date):

• 38,217 registered salespersons, under 1,015 licensed estate agencies that have salespersons on the register.
• 503 of the 1,015 agencies are one-person firms; the median agency has 2 salespersons.
• The five agencies with more than 1,000 salespersons account for 87.9% of them.

The five largest agencies, by name and headcount, are in our guide to Singapore property laws, in the section on buying or selling on your own.

Headcount only: the register says nothing about an agency's service, deals or earnings. Source: PropKaki's copy of CEA's public register, verified 11 August 2026.

What it means when you hire someone: whatever its size, every agency needs a CEA licence and a key executive officer who supervises its salespersons (sections 28 and 38 of the Act).

Nearly half of all agencies are one-person firms; 87.9% of salespersons are with five big ones.

US licensing is set state by state. California's Department of Real Estate, for example, licenses individuals to do real estate work "under the supervision of a licensed broker" (California DRE).

Singapore does it with one licence and one appointment:

• The licence belongs to the agency (Estate Agents Act, section 28).
• The supervisor is the agency's key executive officer. Section 38 requires every estate agent to appoint one and to "ensure that the key executive officer is responsible for the proper administration and overall management of the business of the estate agent, and the supervision of its salespersons" (SSO).

So when someone in Singapore calls themselves a broker, it is a job title, not a licence. Check the agency and the registration number on CEA's register instead.

Where you will hear the word in Singapore is co-broking: CEA describes it as two or more property agents, each representing a different party, working together to complete one transaction. In that case "your property agent may share or receive a portion of commission with another property agent. The sharing of commission is strictly an agreement between the property agents involved" (CEA).

Broker is a licence in some US states; in Singapore, the agency and its key executive officer do that job.

The National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) is "the proud owner of numerous trademarks including the terms REALTOR®, REALTOR-ASSOCIATE®, REALTORS®, and the REALTOR® Logo", and "The MARKS are collective marks that identify members of NAR and distinguish them from non-members" (NAR).

So "realtor vs agent" is a US question: a realtor is someone who has joined NAR, not someone with a different licence. In Singapore, the questions that matter are whether the person is registered with CEA and which licensed agency they are registered with.

Realtor is a membership mark, not a licence, and the mark belongs to a US association.

From CEA's consumer guidance (CEA):

• Your money. "It is an offence for property agents to handle transaction monies in general, and could result in them facing court prosecution and fines." Pay option fees, deposits, stamp duty, legal fees and rent directly to the payee, "through verifiable means such as bank transfers, PayNow, and crossed cheques".
• One side of the deal. "Property agents can only act for one party in a property transaction." Representing, and collecting commission from, both buyer and seller, or both landlord and tenant, "is an offence".
• Moneylenders. CEA's rule is that your property agent "must not introduce, refer, or recommend any moneylenders’ services to you."

They can still help the other side with paperwork, but only with your consent and only if they "clearly state that they are neither acting on behalf of nor collecting any fees from the other party".

If a property agent asks you to pay the option fee to them instead of the seller, walk away.

Section 40 of the Act bars registration or acting "for more than one estate agent at any one time", and section 41 requires a written agreement between the licensed agency and each of its salespersons before they carry out estate agency work for it (SSO).

That is why the agency name and licence number on an advert or name card should match the agency on the person's CEA profile (CEA). If they don't, ask before you sign anything.

One person, one agency, one written agreement at a time.

From the Estate Agents Act (SSO):

• Unlicensed agencies (section 28): liable to "a fine not exceeding $75,000, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or to both".
• Unregistered individuals (section 29): liable to "a fine not exceeding $25,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both".
• No commission (sections 28(3) and 29(4)). "No fee, commission or reward in relation to anything done by a person in respect of an offence under this section is recoverable in any action, suit or matter by any person."

CEA's summary: "It is an offence for any individual to carry out estate agency work without valid registration" (CEA). For the wider legal picture, see Singapore property laws explained.

Official rules. The definitions, licensing, registration, key executive officer, one-agency and written-agreement rules and the penalties are from the Estate Agents Act 2010 on Singapore Statutes Online. The consumer rules (commission, transaction money, one side only, moneylenders, agreements) and the register checks are CEA's (pages updated 13 May and 4 September 2026). The US definitions are the National Association of REALTORS® (its trade marks) and California's Department of Real Estate (the broker tier), as one US example. All were read on 19 September 2026.

Proprietary figures. The counts of salespersons and agencies are from PropKaki's copy of CEA's public register, verified on 11 August 2026, counting salespersons on the register at that date and the licensed agencies they are registered under. How we work: PropKaki methodology.

What we have not claimed: anything about earnings (the register counts people, not pay), the quality of any agency or of its salespersons, or a ranking beyond headcount. This is a practical explainer, not legal or financial advice. Check CEA's register and CEA's guidance before you sign an estate agency agreement.