Most employees in the industry earn between £21,000 and £25,000 a year, including commission. And forget the flashy motors commonly associated with estate agents – few get cars with their jobs and drive their own.

In contrast, the highest earners in the industry received £150,000 to £190,000 last year.

And if you are a high flyer in the industry and want a good income – steer clear of London. Pay is better in the rest of the south.

Our readers – sales and lettings agents – may be dealing in the highest wealth assets that people have, but with few exceptions, you are certainly not particularly well paid. A new survey – by software firm Expert Agent – reads more like a  Poor List of hard-working people than a Sunday Times Rich List.

Sales pays better than lettings – generally by 15% – although there is a high cross-over in employees who handle both. Negotiators are young, and not only are company cars much less common than they used to be, but where they are supplied, they are often staider family models.

The survey found that the average industry pay is £26-£30,000. However, this figure is skewed by the 8% of employees who earn over £70,000. Removing them brings the average down to between £21,000 and £25,000.

Average pay including commission is highest in the south. Surprisingly perhaps, agents in the south-east and south central regions had higher average salaries, including commission, than central and Greater London. Earnings are lowest in the north-east.

Sales negotiators are generally young – 44% are under 25.

Nine in ten sales negotiators have to use their own cars, and 60% of sales managers use their own cars for work.

Another perhaps surprising finding is the high proportion who get all of their income as basic salary – including 33% of senior sales negotiators. That said, at least 10% of total earnings is based on commission for negotiators and managers.

While there are enormous disparities in pay, what is striking is that a number of negotiators working at more junior level have earnings that hover around the minimum wage, with 25% of sales negotiators and 23% of lettings negotiators getting less than £12,000.

Senior sales negotiators do better, but almost all earn less than £50,000, with 23% earning £18,000 to £20,000. Senior lettings negotiators generally earn between £18,000 and £25,000 and 70% use their own cars.

Sales managers have a spread of salaries: 14% earn under £20,000; 23% earn £31,000 to £40,000; and 20% earn £40,000 to £60,000.

Lettings managers also have a spread of salaries, but do less well than their sales counterparts: over 40% earn less than £25,000, while 36% earn over £30,000.

The findings are all in a salary survey by software company Expert Agent – and it is compelling stuff which might surprise the media and the public.

The company sent the survey to all of its customers in 2,289 branches across the country and received completed surveys back from over 700 estate agency employees.

The survey asked simple questions:

What’s your job role?

Full time or part time?

Sales, lettings or both?

Age?

Location?

How much did you earn?

How much was commission/dividend/profit share?

Company car? If so, what type?

The full findings are here

* Separately, we learn that Foxtons’ negotiators start on £22,000 before moving to a commission-led income, which is generally 10% on each deal plus a basic salary of £10,000. A sale of £1m earns a bonus of £2,500. The figures are in a very long, but interesting article in the Guardian. http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jun/17/is-foxtons-the-estate-agent-london-deserves