Housing boom hikes bosses' pay

HOUSEBUILDING bosses have seen their pay go through the roof as they reap the benefits of the booming market.

Accounts just filed by Taylor Woodrow show that chief executive Iain Napier was paid £950,000 last year, up 29% on the previous year. It included a £328,000 bonus.

The rise mirrored a 30% boost in the company's pre-tax profits to £304m. During the year, Napier masterminded the £499m takeover of rival Wilson Connolly.

But Napier's counterpart at smaller rival Bovis Homes fared even better.

Malcolm Harris pocketed £1.15m last year. He was paid £848,000, up 48% on 2002, which included a £440,000 bonus plus £307,000 from cashing in options and shares.

Pre-tax profits at Bovis rose by a less spectacular 18% to £123m while the number of houses sold declined slightly by 150 to 2,500.

Harris, 55, also saw the transfer value of his pension fund swell by £1.3m to £3.6m, entitling him to an annual retirement income of £252,000.

Shares in housebuilders have performed well and were boosted further when a Government-commissioned report by economist Kate Barker recommended that Britain needed to build more than 140,000 homes a year.

On Friday, Halifax said house prices rose last month by 2.2%, taking the year-on-year increase to almost 19%.