Figures this month from Halifax bank, showing the second consecutive monthly fall in house prices, followed widespread reports of stagnation in the housing market. Averaging a basket of indices, price rises are at their smallest for five years, while prices have been falling in London as consumers appear to be reining in spending amid fears ahead of Brexit. 

But so far the housebuilding industry, supported by Help to Buy, has carried on largely unaffected by these esoteric doubts. Companies this year continued on a five-year run of expanding output and profit, rewarding shareholders with fat dividends along the way and remaining largely debt-free. The top 30 biggest housebuilders have increased house sales by 7.5% in the last year.

All this is good news for the sector’s employees, with the same top 30 adding more than 2,000 extra staff in 12 months. So, it’s perhaps no great surprise that Building’s annual survey of housebuilding industry director-level salaries, conducted by recruitment firm PSD, shows salaries for those at the top of the industry continuing to rise.

“A decent mid-range quantity surveyor can pretty much write his or her own pay check at the moment’

Clare Smithson, Hill

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