The average monthly salary for property professionals in the Middle East has risen by just Dh480 (US$130) over the past year to Dh38,440.
According to the recruitment specialist Macdonald & Company, average salaries for property professionals in the region have risen by just 1.3 per cent over the last twelve months - well below the rate of inflation in the region, which in Dubai is expected to be about 2 per cent for this year.
For those in the property industry, many of whom received very high pay packages during the boom years, the real-terms salary cut comes after a lean few years of earnings. After the global economic crisis, Macdonald & Co reported salaries dipped by between 30 and 40 per cent.
"Although we are seeing a recovery in the Dubai property market, the recruitment market for property professionals is showing no signs of returning to what it was during the boom," said Ben Waddilove, a Macdonald & Co director. "With the recruitment markets and the economies in the West still struggling, property companies in the Middle East do not need to pay huge salaries to attract staff. "A lot of companies were hit badly during the downturn and that was partly because they were overpaying their staff."
The figures, which are released today at the Cityscape exhibition in Dubai, also show average annual bonuses for senior property professionals in the Middle East remained at about Dh76,000.
However, Macdonald & Co said demand was returning to the market for top company executives receiving pay packets of between Dh120,000 and Dh150,000 a month.
"Developers in the region are once again willing to pay top-whack salaries of more than Dh100,000 for the right candidate," Mr Waddilove added.
"The situation is a lot better than that of two or three years ago when most companies would have agreed that there was no hope of seeing salaries that high again."
Macdonald & Co reported the average monthly salary for a chief executive for a property company now stood at Dh135,000.
