The UK’s largest agent, Countrywide, is now led by a woman, Alison Platt, while its sales and lettings business are also led by a woman, Sam Tyrer.

But are these high profile appointments exceptions, or representative of the industry? How is the industry really doing when it comes to gender equality?

Foxtons and Savills are sitting behind Countrywide and LSL when it comes to female board seats among the top listed estate agencies.

Research by EYE reveals the gender representation of the boards at the main listed estate agency brands, with women making up three out of ten boardroom chairs at the LSL Group and three out of nine at Countrywide itself.

In comparison, Foxtons and Savills, who have boardrooms of seven and eight respectively, have just one female each, although that still beats newly listed online agent Purplebricks, which has an all-male board.

The figures come after a government report by House of Lords peer Mervyn Davies said a third of boardroom positions at FTSE 100 companies should be held by women by the end of the decade.

Obviously no estate agent brands are in the FTSE 100 so wouldn’t need to comply, but the statistics do raise questions over the gender balance in the industry.

According to the National Association of Estate Agents, only 25.5% of sales agents are women.

The trade body has been calling for more women to be encouraged into the industry at all levels.

Data on women working across both sales and lettings at the big firms paints a more positive picture, and just because Foxtons or others have fewer women at board level, that doesn’t mean they are not well represented across the company.

For example Foxtons says almost half of its workforce is female.

The Savills brand, which encompasses estate agency and a range of other property activities, has 19 senior female executives across the company out of 175.

The firm said in a statement that it backed increasing female representation on company boards, adding: “We acknowledge that historically the real estate sector has found it challenging to recruit a high percentage of female graduates, from which tomorrow’s business leaders will emerge, and are encouraged that our graduate recruitment programme is helping to redress the balance at Savills where we have a 50/50 male to female ratio of graduates.

“Our focus remains on attracting the right talent and skills irrespective of gender or diversity.”

Lisa Charles-Jones, HR director of the LSL Group, said 62% of its residential workforce are women, of whom 41% are at branch manager level or above.

The percentage of females in more senior roles in sales is upwards of 43%, she said.

She said: “Our brands, such as Your Move and Reeds Rains, are very conscious of treating both male and females equally and go to great lengths to ensure that both have the opportunity to progress at the same pace.”

Meanwhile, new Alternative Investment Market entrant Purplebricks has an all-male board, but across the company says 37% of its largely self-employed local property experts  are women.

A spokesman said: “Purplebricks maintains a strong commitment to equality and opportunity in our employment policies and practices in the workplace. Through our recruitment and selection processes we seek to attract and retain a diverse and talented workforce.

“We believe our flexible licensee model will be attractive to women seeking a good work/life balance, allowing work to be fitted in around other commitments such as family.

“So we hope the proportion of women will grow significantly.

“We are committed to seeking gender equality at board level, while also finding the best people to represent the company and shareholders, and will be bearing this closely in mind as we build the board.”