The average basic salary for those working in the UK residential property sector is £41,392.

But for estate agents the average basic salary is just £23,848 – easily the lowest of the 18 different professions surveyed, although the figure is 5% higher than the previous year.

Estate agents did, however, earn some of the highest bonuses in the last year – £53,643, an increase of 5.2%, and bringing average overall earnings to £77,491.

Those working in investment earned bigger bonuses at £60,833, while those working in land and development received the highest bonuses at £71,600.

Those working in development receive the highest basic pay at £67,013, plus bonuses of £40,250, but the best-off overall were those working in land and development agencies who got £55,888 basic pay plus their £71,600 bonuses.

The figures all come from recruitment firm Deverell Smith’s new UK Residential Salary Survey which took its data from 1,278 of the more senior people working in the industry.

However, just 5% of respondents were estate agents, and of these, 61% were male.

The survey covers the whole of the UK with the exception of Northern Ireland. However, it is very strongly London-biased, with 31% of all respondents in the capital.