A SURVEY of surveyors in the North West has discovered they are ahead in the earnings game.

For salaries of chartered accountants in Greater Manchester and throughout the region rose by more than the national average last year.

That's according to the biggest survey of salaries in the profession undertaken for the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)

Over the past 12 months, wages in the North West rose by 5.1 per cent from £28,900 to £30,700, higher than the national average of a 4.7 per cent rise.

Top of the earnings tree are surveyors dealing with investment, development and finance.

Surveyors in central and local Government and the non-profit making sector are the last well rewarded.

RICS North West regional director Guy Lawson said: "Increasing salaries for chartered surveyors in the region illustrate the competition that exists in the North West to attract and retain the best talent.

"There is a very competitive market and standards are high. Chartered surveying represents a very good career option for young people and the profession is currently thriving, as this survey shows."