The estate agency trade in Hong Kong

How Hong Kong's property market and estate agency trade developed, what moves property prices, where agents get market and property information, and why the Estate Agents Ordinance was passed. Syllabus Part 1 is tested at Level 2 in the EAQE: expect recall questions on dates, sources and price factors, often set as a branch manager briefing new staff.

Part I · Stand-alone questions8 min read8 sections

Checked against the EAA, A Study Guide to Estate Agency Law and Practice, Part 1, paras 1–35; EAA Estate Agents Qualifying Examination Syllabus, Part 1 (Appendix 1 to the Examination Handbook, Aug 2026); Residential Properties (First-hand Sales) Ordinance (Cap. 621); IRD stamp duty rate tables (IRSD123, 5/2026) and the withdrawal of demand-side measures for instruments executed on or after 28 Feb 2024; HKMA press release of 16 Oct 2024; Extension of Government Leases Ordinance (Cap. 648); EAA Mandatory CPD Scheme page; checked 11 Oct 2026.

Must-know for the exam

Before the Estate Agents Ordinance, a business registration certificate was all you needed to run an estate agency (Study Guide Part 1, para 29).
Timeline: Working Group appointed Nov 1993; report Aug 1994; EAO passed by LegCo 21 May 1997; EAA established 1 Nov 1997; licensing in force 1 Jan 1999.
Mei Foo Sun Chuen, sold from 1966, began large private housing estates; small agencies grew up in Mei Foo to sell its units.
Early 1980s: commission sharing for staff began. Early 1990s: the two largest chains had over 200 branches each; one listed in 1995.
After the 1997–98 financial crisis, developers commonly appointed agents to sell uncompleted units, sometimes paying more than 2% commission.
External price factors: world economy, foreign interest rates, global capital flows. Internal: Hong Kong's economic cycle, Government housing policy and property measures.
SSD, BSD and NRSD do not apply to residential instruments executed on or after 28 Feb 2024 (IRD).
HKMA: maximum loan-to-value 70% and debt servicing ratio 50% for all property, for provisional agreements signed on or after 16 Oct 2024.
The RVD's annual Hong Kong Property Review reports completions, take-up, vacancies, prices and rents for the past year, plus forecast completions.
Mandatory CPD Phase I (from 1 Jan 2025): anyone licensed on an exam passed after that date needs 4 points per 1-year licence, 8 per 2-year licence.

On this page · 8 sections

Traps that cost marks

Assuming some exam or licence existed before the EAO.
Putting the Authority's establishment before the Ordinance that created it.
Not linking today's rules (forms, disclosure) to the abuses they were designed to stop.
Misplacing milestones from different decades.
Reversing the effect of the 1997-98 crisis on developers' use of agents.
Believing commission rates are fixed by law.
Sending HOS alienation enquiries to the Lands Department.
Using transaction statistics as a measure of supply.

Why this matters in the exam

Part 1 of the EAQE syllabus is set at Level 2 (basic knowledge), so the questions are short and factual. They ask you to put events in order, pick the complaint that led to regulation, sort a price factor into internal or external, or match a piece of information to the Government department that holds it. These are some of the cheapest marks in Part I if you learn a few dates and lists.

The EAQE often frames these questions from a manager's chair: an estate agent explaining the trade to new salespersons, or briefing clients on the market. One warning: the EAA's Study Guide describes market measures that have since been withdrawn or changed. Where a figure could have moved, this note gives the current rule and its date.

How the market and the trade grew

Period	Property market	Estate agency trade
1945–1952	Population fell to 500,000 under occupation, then reached 2 million by 1950; flats in multi-storey buildings sold individually from 1947; pre-sales of uncompleted units began	Few agents; deals mostly in whole buildings and sites
1953–1970	Manufacturing growth; boom 1954–57; a 1957 law on sales of uncompleted units, then a slump; boom 1959–68	1950s–60s: one-person firms meeting in restaurants in Central, Wanchai and Mongkok; Mei Foo Sun Chuen (1966) brought the first estate-based agencies
1971–1984	1973 stock market crash and property slump; recovery from 1976; Mainland open-door policy 1979; record prices in 1981, then falls with higher interest rates and political uncertainty

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Estate Agents Qualifying Examination