California Real Estate Continuing Education in 2026: The 45 Hour Rule, Broken Down

On September 4, 2026, DRE published an update on Continuing Education for California Real Estate Licensees.

Most licensees know the headline number and very little else. Forty five hours, every four years. The part that catches people is the course mix, because it is not the same for your first renewal as it is for every renewal after that, and it is not the same for a broker as it is for a salesperson.

Here is the whole structure in one place.

The Baseline

Every California real estate licensee must complete continuing education to renew, and the license term is four years. The total is 45 hours in every case. What changes is how those 45 hours are made up.

First Renewal, Salesperson

Forty five hours, built from:

• Four mandatory three hour courses: ethics, agency, trust fund handling, and risk management.

• One three hour fair housing course that includes interactive participation, which in practice means role play rather than a video you leave running.

• One two hour implicit bias training.

• A minimum of 18 hours of consumer protection courses.

• The remaining hours from consumer service or consumer protection courses.

First Renewal, Broker or Officer

Same 45 hours, same fair housing and implicit bias requirements, with one addition. Brokers and officers take five mandatory three hour courses instead of four. Management and supervision is the fifth.

That addition is not decorative. Broker supervision is the thread running through most DRE discipline, and it is the same duty DRE leaned on in its 2026 advisory on artificial intelligence.

Every Renewal After the First

Still 45 hours, and here you get a choice. Either:

• A single nine hour survey course that covers all of the required topics together, or

• The individual courses in ethics, agency, trust fund handling, risk management, management and supervision, fair housing, and implicit bias.

Either path still carries the minimum 18 hours of consumer protection, with the balance from consumer service or consumer protection courses.

The nine hour survey course is the efficient route for a licensee who has already covered these subjects once. It is also the route that teaches you the least. Pick accordingly.

Where to Get Approved Courses

DRE's Education and Research section approves every course that counts. As of the September 2026 update there were 63 approved continuing education providers offering 525 approved courses.

Two practical warnings. Hours from an unapproved provider do not count, no matter how good the material is, so confirm approval before you pay. And renewal runs through eLicensing, so check that your contact information there is current long before your expiration date.

A four year cycle is easy to lose track of. The licensees who scramble are almost never the ones who forgot the rule. They are the ones who assumed they had more time than they did.

Why This Matters If You Coordinate Transactions

If you hold a license and coordinate transactions, this is your renewal and the schedule is yours to manage.

If you do not hold a license, look at the required subject list again: ethics, agency, trust fund handling, risk management, fair housing. That list is not a licensing hoop. It is a description of where transactions go wrong. Trust fund handling is deposit timing. Agency is who you may speak to and about what. Risk management is disclosure and documentation. A coordinator who understands those subjects catches problems earlier than one who only knows where the signature lines are.

Whether a specific activity requires a license is a question for DRE or your own counsel, not for a blog post. Ask before you assume.

The Short Version

Forty five hours, every four years, every licensee. First renewal means the four mandatory courses, or five for a broker, plus three hours of fair housing with interactive participation and two hours of implicit bias.

After that, either the nine hour survey course or the individual subjects, always with at least 18 hours of consumer protection.

Confirm the provider is DRE approved before you pay. Do not start in the final month.

AIDE provides full service transaction coordination across California. If you want that support on your files, see our services. If you want to learn the transaction itself, the AIDE TC Training Course covers agency, disclosures, deadline tracking, and file management start to finish. No license required. Note that the AIDE course is career training and is not DRE approved continuing education.

AIDE Transaction Coordination | aide-re.com | support@aide-re.com