Anyone looking into an estate agency career in Hong Kong runs into the EAQE fairly quickly, usually alongside its sibling exam, the SQE. The two get confused often enough that it is worth starting from what the EAQE actually licenses, who has to sit it, and what passing it does and does not get you.
What is the EAQE?
The Estate Agents Qualifying Examination is the exam a candidate must pass to become eligible for an individual estate agent’s licence in Hong Kong. It is set by the Estate Agents Authority (EAA), the statutory regulator for the trade, and its syllabus is published as Appendix 1 of the EAA’s Handbook for Candidates. Exam administration, meaning booking, sitting the paper and issuing results, is handled by PEAK, part of the Vocational Training Council.
Who needs to sit the EAQE?
Anyone who wants to hold an individual estate agent’s licence needs to pass it. Holding that licence lets someone operate an estate agency business, or, for a company, means at least one of its directors must hold one. It is a different track from the salesperson’s licence: a salesperson must work for a licensed estate agent and cannot operate an agency independently, and an office manager responsible for effective control of a branch must hold an individual estate agent’s licence rather than a salesperson’s. If the goal is to run an agency or be legally responsible for one, the EAQE is the relevant exam.
Does passing the EAQE alone let you start working as an estate agent?
No. Passing the exam gives no authority to practise by itself; it is one requirement among several. A new individual applicant normally also needs to be at least 18, meet the EAA’s prescribed education requirement, and satisfy its fit and proper person test before a licence is actually granted. A company applying for its own estate agent’s licence needs at least one director who already holds an individual estate agent’s licence. The exam clears the knowledge requirement; the licence application is a separate step that follows it.
What does the exam actually cover?
The EAQE syllabus spans eight parts: an introduction to the trade, the Estate Agents Ordinance and agency practice, laws governing agency practice and conveyancing, land registration and land search, buildings and property management, property valuation, tenancy matters, and agency management and supervision of salespersons. The paper itself has two separately graded parts, 50 questions in total across a three-hour sitting, and unlike many licensing exams it does not reduce to one overall pass percentage. The exact question split and the pass thresholds for each part are covered in our EAQE format and pass mark guide.
What happens after you pass?
Passing clears the way to apply for the licence itself, not the end of the paperwork. A licence, once granted, also needs periodic renewal: an ordinary renewal application is submitted between one and three months before the existing licence expires, and a licensee is expected to check the EAA’s register rather than assume an old licence is still valid. Licensing is an ongoing relationship with the regulator, not a one-time exam result.
How is the EAQE different from the SQE?
They license two different roles. The Estate Agents Ordinance defines a salesperson as someone employed by, or otherwise engaged under, a licensed estate agent, and the SQE is that role’s exam. The EAQE licenses the agent role itself, the one a salesperson works under. The syllabi overlap for six parts but the EAQE adds two the SQE does not examine, property valuation and agency management, which fits since running or supervising an agency involves more than the SQE’s day-to-day salesperson duties. See our SQE exam guide if the salesperson licence is the one that applies.
Where do these questions come from?
Every question in the RiverMap Learning EAQE app is original. The EAA does not publish past papers, and the app uses none of the sources online that claim to offer them. Its 437 practice questions, 180 flashcards and 9 topic notes are written from the publicly published EAQE syllabus (Appendix 1 of the EAA’s Handbook for Candidates, December 2024 edition) and the Hong Kong ordinances it names, with each question citing the syllabus point or ordinance it rests on so a candidate can check the source directly. The app covers all eight syllabus parts plus a dedicated case-analysis bank for Part II, is available in English, Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese, and its timed mock scores the two parts separately to match how the real exam is graded. The full syllabus is published by the Estate Agents Authority at eaa.org.hk. This app is an independent revision aid and is not endorsed by, sponsored by, or affiliated with the Estate Agents Authority, PEAK, or the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.