South: Gender pay gap widens among property professionals
Salaries for UK property professionals remained robust in 2017, according to the latest survey by RICS & Macdonald & Company, but the gender pay gap has increased from last year.
Male property professionals earn, on average, £11,113 more than their female colleagues (£54,931 versus £43,818). The gap is evident across the majority of age groups and is greatest for those aged between 46-55, where the difference in average salary is 25.7%.
Encouragingly, the gender pay gap is now less evident in those starting out in property with females earning slightly more than males – which is a turnaround from last year where the pay gap was most evident in 18-22 year olds.
The survey is also still indicating the attraction of property as a career. Of those who received a pay rise in 2017 in the industry the average increase was 7.7% (up from 7.1% in 2016). This is far above UK wage inflation which sits at 2.7%*. Considering the sample as a whole, the industry experienced an increase of +7.2% (2016: 6.5%) with 32% also believing that their pay and benefits will be positively affected by market conditions over the next 12 months.
Once again, the survey also shows the benefits being professionally qualified. RICS professionals earn 40.6% more than those who are ‘not professionally qualified’. This has increased by 29.5% since 2016. Those with an FRICS designation earn 83.3% more than those who are not professionally qualified.
The survey recorded the average salary in 2017 to be £52,362. While this is a 4.5% decrease compared to 2016, this may be largely explained by changes in the demographics of the survey this time around. Respondents with 10 years experience or fewer rose by 9% (from 31% to 40%) while those with 16 years experience or more fell 10% (from 56% to 46%).
Respondents working in Greater London continue to earn the highest average salary (£61,141) and command a premium of 15.5% over the South East and 41% over Northern Ireland/Republic of Ireland. The majority of regions have seen a decrease but East Anglia (+3.4%), South West/Wales (+2.6%) and Northern Ireland/Republic of Ireland (+1.4%) buck this trend with growth in average wages.
More positively however, over half of respondents (53%) believe their organisation will increase headcount in 2017. 47% of respondents expect their organisation to modestly increase headcount, while 6% expect a significant increase in headcount in 2017.
Sarah Speirs, director of communications and external affairs RICS, commented: “While it is encouraging that those entering the sector are now seeing pay equality, the fact that the pay gap has widened overall is disheartening. The industry have started to take action but must maintain this momentum to create a more balanced workforce that attracts the best talent if it wants to remain competitive.
“As organisations look set to increase headcount in 2017 promoting the diversity of careers in surveying will help ensure that our profession is fit and relevant for the future.
“RICS has invested in creating the RICS Diversity Hub, an online portal designed to encourage knowledge sharing and provide practical advice on how best to embed diversity and inclusion. In addition, the Hub will encourage members to sign up to the RICS Inclusive Employer Quality Mark (IEQM). This scheme aims to make the land, property and construction sector more inclusive and diverse, giving those who sign up a competitive advantage.”
