Savills boss Jeremy Helsby is in line to pick up earnings of £2.6m from last year – a pay rise of 44% compared with 2012.

The international group’s chief executive earned an unchanged basic salary of £225,000, plus a £610,000 windfall in shares, available from next month, and a £363,000 increase in cash and shares under the profit sharing scheme.

Chief financial officer Simon Shaw benefits from the same increases and is in line to get £1.9m.

In its annual report, Savills said it had “an exceptionally strong finish to the year including a record performance in the UK” where revenues were up 16% to £462.3m and underlying profits rose 26% to £55.3m.

The UK was the most successful by far of all Savills’ markets, ahead of Asia, Europe and the US.

The firm’s 26,000 staff – based around the world and which include 3,718 based in 95 Savills offices in the UK – will share in a bumper bonus pot of £169m, compared with £138m last year.

In its report, Savills said that its UK residential trading volumes rose by 8% last year, and that the value of homes it sold (excluding new developments) was up by 15% to £6.1bn.

In London, property transactions were up by 13% and the average price was £3.2m.

Despite such strong results, Savills said sales volumes in London were 15% below the 2007 peak, and outside London 26% below peak.

However, while Savills said that its performance so far this year is in line with expectations, its own analyst is warning that prices in central London will dip next year.

Lucian Cook, head of residential research, said he expects growth to slow in the next 18 months, and London “prime” prices to drop by 1% in 2015.

He said that rich foreign investors are being deterred by “political rhetoric” regarding taxation and the introduction of a possible mansion tax on top of increased Stamp Duty and other tax changes.