Macao's real estate sector recorded the highest percentage of salary increase in Asia Pacific this year thanks to its booming property market, a survey has found.

Jointly organized by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and recruitment consultancy to the property market Macdonald & Company, the salary and benefits survey has interviewed 1,226 real estate professionals in Asia Pacific in October.

At a record high of 16.6 percent, Macao has outperformed third-ranked China's mainland (9.5 percent) and fifth-ranked Hong Kong (8.7 percent).

Property professionals in Macao also enjoy a higher average yearly salary (US$96,000) than those in Hong Kong (US$75,500) and the mainland (US$67,400).

The average percentage of salary growth and average yearly salary for the whole region is nine percent and US$82,000 respectively.

The booming property market in Macao does not only benefit the SAR's economy. It has also brought job opportunity for Hong Kong property professionals.

David Tse, Chairman of RICS Hong Kong, said there had been a growing number of Hong Kong property professionals working in Macao.

This year, 15 percent of their members specializing in quantity surveying and project management, the two most sought-after sectors in the industry, had moved to Macao.

There are many projects in Macao and there is a shortage of quantity surveyors there, he said.

Companies in Macao had offered an attractive salary with housing benefits to Hong Kong professionals, he said.

For example, a qualified quantity surveyor with three to four years' experience earning HK$20,000 to HK$30,000 a month had been offered HK$50,000 to HK$60,000.

Starting in 2006, the trend had become obvious this year, and Tse said it would continue for the next three years.

However, he said the trend is only temporary. Once the projects were over, the people would return to Hong Kong.

David Tuffin, president of RICS, said there "won't be a mass exodus to Macao".

Hong Kong is still an attractive place to work for young professionals, he said, and commercial real estate is pretty solid in Hong Kong.

William Glover, international director of Macdonald & Company, said the average salary is higher in Macao because the majority of works there is in investment and development.

With a concentrated level of construction in Macao such as hotels and casinos, there is a higher profit per employer, he said.

In Hong Kong, professionals in the industry are mainly project directors and development managers and they did not make as big a profit as developers in Macao, he said.

Glover said Hong Kong would not be marginalized by Macao as far as the real estate industry was concerned.

Hong Kong had a more mature investment market, good corporate governance and excellent communication, he said.

"For many of our clients, Hong Kong is still the preferred place if they wanted to do business on mainland China," he said.

It is also much more difficult to bring workers to Macao, he added. It took three months to get a work permit in Macao but five weeks or less in Hong Kong, he added.

(HK Edition 11/28/2007 page6)