The Estate Agents Authority is to review its rules on professional training with the aim of making it mandatory for people joining the profession, says its chief executive, Sandy Chan Pui-shan. Ms Chan said that voluntary participation had been encouraging, saying that there were 27,327 enrolments for the 486 training sessions held last year. 'On average, each practising agent took seven hours of training last year, which is comparable to other similar professionals, such as stockbrokers or insurance agents,' she said. 'There were concerns about making training mandatory when we first raised the issue a few years ago. We will review the arrangement at the end of this year, and mandatory training will be our direction.' Ms Chan said the authority was looking at a number of approaches. She said training may not be compulsory for every agent as many senior agents knew the industry well. 'It is possible it applies only to newcomers.' Any secondary school graduate who passes an entrance exam becomes a qualified estate agent. The authority last year made the examination tougher following a surge in complaints against estate agents and an admission by the industry that some agents lacked professional standards.