The gender pay gap at some of Britain’s largest estate agencies has widened. This reverses much of the progress made during the early years of mandatory reporting.
Women at more than 25 large residential and commercial property agencies earned an average 28.7% less than men last year. The figures come from analysis by Parapet Intelligence.
The gap stood at 24.7% in 2020/21. It has therefore increased by four percentage points in five years.
The figures show a reversal after an initial narrowing of the divide.
Mandatory gender pay gap reporting began in 2017/18. At the time, the agencies in Parapet’s analysis recorded an average gap of 32.7%.
That fell to 24.7% by 2020/21 before climbing back to 28.7%.
Gender pay gap figures compare average earnings between men and women across an organisation. They do not compare the salaries of men and women doing the same jobs.
The results can therefore reflect how many men and women work in senior and higher-paid positions.
Bonus gap remains close to 50%
More women working at the agencies now receive bonuses than when reporting began.
Parapet found that 75% of female employees received a bonus last year. That compares with 63% in 2017/18.
Among male employees, 78.9% received a bonus last year.
However, a substantial difference remains in the value of those payments.
Men received average bonuses worth 48.7% more than women last year.
That compares with a 53.6% bonus gap eight years ago. The divide has narrowed, but remains considerably wider than the overall gender pay gap.
Vikki Bennett, co-founder of Parapet Intelligence, said: “It’s scandalous really that we should witness progress when it’s politically convenient only to see much of that undone when it falls out of the news.
“It reeks of paying lip service to structural problems in the sector that need to be constantly under the microscope. Estate agency is an industry where plenty of women thrive but if there really were equal opportunities the gender pay gap would reflect that.
“It’s time to put this back on the agenda and make sure senior teams understand that evenly diverse teams and more equal earnings belong to companies that are agile, competitive and stronger.”
Housebuilder pay gap more than doubles
Parapet also analysed gender pay data from around 40 large housebuilders. Its findings show an even greater deterioration since reporting began.
The average gender pay gap has more than doubled.
Women earned an average 10.8% less than men in 2017/18. Five years ago, the gap had reached 20.5%.
Last year it stood at 24.7%.
The bonus gap has also shifted further in favour of male employees.
Men’s median bonuses exceeded women’s by 4.7% in 2017/18. Last year, the difference had widened to 26.7%.
Bennett said: “Pay equality for women has gone backwards since house builders were put on notice that the Government wanted to see progress.
“That’s deeply troubling and reeks of paying lip service to structural problems in the sector that need to be constantly under the microscope.
“It’s time to put this back on the agenda and make sure senior teams understand that diverse teams and more equal earnings belong to companies that are agile, competitive and stronger.”
