The ranks of the city's estate agents rose 10.9% last year, lifted by the rebounding property market, and the industry watchdog expects the sector to keep growing.

The Estate Agents Authority said yesterday that the number of individual licensees, including salesmen and estate agents, increased to a record 25,810 people as of 31 December, up from 23,266 a year earlier.

'It was a fluctuating year. Initially, the figure dropped a bit because of the financial crisis, but it started to surge from March,' said Vivien Chan, , the chairwoman of the Estate Agents Authority. 'As the property market has remained busy into January, we believe that the number will continue to rise.'

South China Morning Post