Estate agency is one of the UK’s worst performing industries for the gender pay gap, new research reveals.
10th Mar 20260 397 2 minutes read Myra Butterworth
Estate agency has the fourth biggest gender pay gap across all UK industries, new research claims.
The findings by Yopa suggested that estate agency is one of the UK’s worst performing industries for the gender pay gap.
It ranks fourth largest across all sectors after widening in the past year and the past decade.
The “frustrating” news based on figures from the Office for National Statistics comes as World Women’s Day was marked at the weekend.
Workplace inequality
Verona Frankish, CEO, Yopa
Verona Frankish, Chief Executive Officer at Yopa and Chair of Women in Estate Agency, says: “It’s incredibly frustrating to see that, despite years of discussion and greater awareness around workplace equality, the gender pay gap within the real estate sector is not only persisting but widening.
“Real estate is an industry built on people, relationships, and talent, and there is simply no justification for such a significant disparity in earnings between men and women. If we want the sector to continue evolving and attracting the very best professionals, it’s essential that we create an environment where everyone is recognised and rewarded fairly for the value they bring.
“Addressing the gender pay gap requires genuine commitment from across the industry, from improving transparency around pay structures to ensuring equal opportunities for progression into senior and leadership roles.
“Progress won’t happen overnight, but acknowledging the problem and taking meaningful steps to tackle it is critical if we want to build a more inclusive and balanced future for real estate.”
Largest pay gapsThe gender pay gap is calculated as the difference between average hourly earnings – excluding overtime – of men and women, as a proportion of average hourly earnings – excluding overtime – of men’s earnings. It means that a positive value for the gender pay gap indicates that, on average, men earn more than women. A negative value indicates that, on average, women earn more than men.
Yopa has looked at the state of the gender pay gap in UK real estate and found that it currently stands at an average of 14.2.
Only financial and insurance at 27.9, Arts, entertainment and recreation at 26.5, and professional, scientific and technical industries have a greater pay disparity between men and women.
Not only does the real estate industry continue to report one of the largest pay gaps in the UK, but the disparity is also growing.
During the past ten years – between 2015 and 2025 -, the gender pay gap in estate agency has increased by 1.6, and perhaps more alarmingly has increased by 5.5 during the past year.
It ranks as the third largest annual growth across all industries, with only mining and quarrying at 12.7 and arts, entertainment and recreation at 11.2 seeing larger annual growth.
Tagsgender pay gap women in estate agency 10th Mar 20260 397 2 minutes read Myra Butterworth Share Facebook X LinkedIn Share via Email
