More than 8,000 conditional licences have been issued to property agents to allow them to sit qualifying examinations within three years.
Housewives and the jobless were among the applicants who met the Thursday deadline.
The Estate Agents Authority had originally expected 13,000 applications from individuals and 2,500 from estate agents.
Tony Chan Tung-ngok, who recently resigned as president of the Society of Hong Kong Real Estate Agents, said: 'Many housewives and unemployed people, who are former estate agents, are applying for the licence for security's sake.
'They want to equip themselves for better times.' The sector employed 15,000 estate agents, Mr Chan said.
The licence allows present and former agents to sit the estate agent examination in the next three years while continuing to work in the trade.