The Sunday Times Rich List 2006 ranks Britain's 1 000 wealthiest. 211 individuals making their fortunes from land and property, more than any other sector. A further 59 have made millions from construction and housebuilding.

The Duke of Westminster, himself an honoury member of RICS is edged into 3rd place on the Rich List by a certain Roman Abramovich. Westminster, 54, owns Grosvenor Group, which has net assets of £2 284 billion. He also owns about 200 acres of Belgravia woth around £4 billion taking his total valuation to £6 600 million. 

Other notable inclusions include Keith Miller and family who own the Miller Group. The construction company, who took over Fairclough Homes for £264 million last year, started as a housebuilder in the 1930s and now has reported assets of over £715 million. 

It is clear that surveying affords opportunities for individuals to create a rewarding and lucrative career. John Raiye MRICS, 31, a property investor and developer with his own firm, IKOS Investments agrees. He states: "I can't see how anyone else should know more about making money from property than a chartered surveyor. The MRICS letters gave me the confidence to start my own business."

You don't have to go it alone to find big rewards as those employed by the big property firms are finding. Savills reportedly paid its staff £80 million worth of bonuses in January 2006. John Rigg FRICS, 53, who specialises in advising German funds was said to be paid a bonus in excess of £1 million.

The 2006 RICS and Macdonald & Company Salary Survey found that the average bonus for a property professional is currently over £6 500 with 27 to 30 year olds receiving an everage bonus of over £3 100. And as recently as this week, the Independent reports that the number of property millionaires in the UK has risen by almost 14% in the last year to 60 000.