The north/south divide so apparent in house prices is also obvious in estate agents’ pay.

Compared with London and parts of the south, where recruiters say that golden handshakes have become more common, in the north-east there are agents working for around the equivalent of the minimum wage – and possibly less given the hours often worked.

Recruitment boss Robin Tossell, whose firm covers an area from Manchester up to Scotland, said that low pay poses the twin threat of a shortage of new recruits and those already in the industry being tempted to leave.

Basic salaries for agents “don’t seem to have changed since the 1980s,” he said.

“Of course you can supplement your salary by earning commissions and bonuses, but even these seem to be stingy.”

Former estate agent Tossell, who now heads up The Ambitious Group alongside Nicola Davis, with offices in Manchester and Huddersfield, said salaries across the north vary wildly, but are particularly poor in the north-east.

He said salaries for negotiators start at around £13,500 to £14,000, with overall earnings around £18,000.

He said he could not remember the last time his firm placed a candidate into a negotiator’s position in the north-east on a basic salary of more than £16,000.

Experienced branch managers and valuers in the north-east typically earn £18,000 to £22,000 basic, with an overall package of around £30,000 – still very low by national standards.

He said: “In my opinion, basic salaries, specifically in the north-east, have remained low for a couple of reasons: house prices are still low compared with most of the rest of the UK, and the housing market doesn’t yet seem to be as buoyant as everywhere else.

“There are some really talented estate agents in the region, who are hard working and dedicated to the cause, but it seems to be a Catch 22 situation.

“Until the majority of estate agency employers start to offer better packages to their front-line staff so that everyone else follows suit, then I don’t see the situation improving any time soon.

“This will ultimately lead to a skills shortage due to fewer people entering the industry in the region.

“I think that this is a serious issue and needs to be looked at. If there is no new talent coming through the ranks now, what happens in ten or 15 years when the industry runs out of appropriately trained estate agents in the region?”

Tossell added: “Think back to when you had your first chat with the careers tutor at school.

“If they had said that you should consider a career in estate agency, where you will start on little more than the minimum wage, work at least five and a half days a week and, every time there is a blip in the market you run the risk of losing your job, would you have jumped at the chance?”

He said agency bosses needed to review their salaries: “Surely a switched-on graduate starting out in the industry is worth more than £13,500, and at the other end of the scale, a valuer or branch manager with ten or more years under their belt is worth more than £20,000?”

He said bosses should also reward staff better in terms of bonuses, and called on them to invest in staff training.

Some of the job opportunities advertised on his website are here