How Long Does It Take To Become A Real Estate Agent?

These figures take into account the time it will take to finish your course on average and the additional time to apply to the government regulator to get approved.

Your experience may vary; as there are a lot of factors that could influence that amount of time.

Some entry-level courses are only 5 units (which take a lot less time to complete!), while some require up to 18 units, it all depends on your state or territory of operation.

If you’re not sure which course you are required to complete, see our free real estate career pathfinder tool.

We give an average completion duration range for all our real estate courses, which can be found on each course page on our website.

Why does it take anywhere between 1-4 months?

There are a couple of aspects to consider:

First is the time it takes to meet the learning/educational requirements, i.e. how long will it take to complete the real estate course, which allows you to apply to the government regulator.

Second, you have the time it takes to apply to the regulator and then obtain approval.

How long does it take to meet the educational requirements?

The most common question we hear is how long the course will take to finish.

Course lengths vary widely depending on which state or territory you are located and planning to work in.

In Australia, we’ve got separate states and territories, and there’s no national license available in Australia to work in real estate. There was an indication of one back in 2012, and after the federal election in 2012, the incoming party decided to scrap the national license initiative. 

Since then, we’ve just gone back to what we had before, so you need to work out which state or territory you’re going to be acting/working in and then look at the regulator’s webpage website and look at the eligibility requirements to become a real estate agent in Australia. 

This will determine the course you will undertake, and how long it will take to complete will usually depend on how many subjects/units you need to complete.

Each training provider will differ in completion time, which depends on the delivery mode. Some training providers will claim they can deliver the course in a few days—more on this here and why I would not recommend enrolling into a delivery such as that.

Anything fast and cheap- promising more than a reasonable person and business should and will be met with disappointment and no outcome for the individual.

I can provide a rough guide on the amount of time it might take based on the courses we run here at Connect Skills Institute.

The first five units of Certificate IV will take roughly one month to complete.

We usually advise students that completing the 18-unit Certificate IV course will take them 1-3 months on average to complete the course if they chip away at the learning and assessment consistently over time.

12-unit Diploma: 1- 3 months to complete.

But, if you have experience, knowledge and skills relating to the subjects, that could significantly reduce the time to finish with RPL.

There are so many common and unknown variables that can influence the time it takes to finish the course. 

Every student is different – you will finish when you do. We have optimised the experience to reduce the time it takes to complete with:

• Clear instructions
• Ease of use navigating the student portal
• No printing, handwriting or scanning
• Answer assist
• Modern student portal – no printing or scanning

Are online or face-to-face/workshops courses faster?

Our online course is better than face-to-face or a workshop and is often faster. 

Why? 

Face-to-face delivery is not a good use of your time as a student because you can waste a lot of time sitting in class, listening to a trainer, and you have to move at their pace or the pace of others rather than your own.

Then at the end of the workshops, you often still have to go home, log in, and do the course assessments after that fact anyway.

Face-to-face learning can be beneficial because you are physically there in person, and it may be more of an interactive environment for you to ask questions. It also depends on the trainer if they are competent industry professionals to keep your interest in going to every class.

Online allows you to move and work at your own pace in your own time. it is flexible learning which works well for busy people who have many things going on in their lives (as we all do!).

What about the time it takes to obtain requirements for experience?

There are usually no experience requirements for entry-level agents.

However, if you are applying to become a fully licensed real estate agent:

• QLD requires no prior experience to apply for a real estate agent license. The person can work as an employee or choose to open his/her own office as a fully licensed real estate agent.
• NSW requires a minimum of one year working as an assistant agent to apply for a class 2 agent or no longer than four years. Then after two years as a class 2 agent, after completing a Diploma in property agency management, can apply for the Class 1 agent license
• ACT requires a minimum of one year working as an assistant agent to apply for a class 2 agent or no longer than four years. Then after two years as a class 2 agent, after completing a Diploma in property agency management, can apply for the Class 1 agent license.
• VIC requires a minimum of 12 months of experience as an agent representative over a period of no more than 3 years – you are required to have a CPP41419 Certificate IV in Real Estate Practice and complete a CPP51119 Diploma of property agency management to work as an employee or you can open up your own office as an estate agent (a fully licensed agent).
• WA requires two years of experience as a certified agent – a CPP51119 Diploma of property agency management to work as an employee or you can open up your own office as an estate agent (a fully licensed agent).
• TAS requires two years of full-time experience as a salesperson or property manager within the previous five years.
• SA has no experience requirements.
• NT has no experience requirements.

How long does it take to apply to the regulator and then obtain approval?

From past experience assisting students in their applications to the regulators, regulator processing times can be as quick as 1 day for a certificate or 6-8 weeks for a full license.

Note that the regulator eligibility applies, and the subjects within the same courses will differ from state to state.

I also recommend checking with your state/territory regulator for processing times.

Final Thoughts

So to become a real estate agent and start work could take anywhere from 1-4 months, depending on a variety of factors.

I encourage you to contact us so we understand your unique situation and provide you with a more accurate estimate for completion which may be reduced by prior experience or depending on the amount of coursework you need to do for your state or territory.

We are genuinely one of the very few training providers that can give you information of a general nature across various aspects of becoming licensed in real estate.

We are industry professionals who have spoken to thousands of agents, there’s not much we haven’t heard about before!

For those wanting to start their own business: The way people start a business is to think about it, talk about it, and act on it. The only problem is some people don’t look up the requirements to become an agent or to open a real estate office beforehand. So do yourself a favour by contacting us, and we can help you there.

So I hope this blog has been helpful to you in giving you a realistic idea of how long it will take to become a real estate agent in Australia.

See you in the next blog 🙂

This blog contains my personal opinions about doing real estate courses and working in the real estate industry based on my many years of experience working with students and helping them achieve their career goals.