In an effort to boost the thin attendance at its professional development programmes, the Estate Agents Authority is introducing a certificate and a symbol that successful participants can use on their name cards.
The move follows a surge in complaints against estate agents last year and an admission by the industry that agents lacked professional standards.
But the authority said it had no plans yet to make attendance at the programmes compulsory.
After repeated calls from legislators for tighter control, the authority has held 122 voluntary professional development activities since May last year. But it has logged only 7,200 participants out of the 21,000 licensed agents in Hong Kong.
But authority chief executive Sandy Chan Pui-shan said the attendance was 'encouraging' and insisted 'the activities have been welcomed with enthusiasm from the industry'.
She said she hoped the logo, which would provide public recognition of the courses, would increase attendance. 'We believe that, with the launch of the symbol, more will feel inclined to join the courses as it may help boost their image,' she said.