Peter Stapleton said it was obvious firms were having issues with overheads with the downturn in the property market.
He said he had spoken to the company's 150 staff directly, and that the pay cut would apply to all of the employees, 'from top to bottom', without exception.
Meanwhile, the President of the Institute of Professional Auctioneers and Valuers has said that estate agents have been cutting costs by letting staff go for the past six months as a result of the slump in the property market.
Alan Redmond said that Lisney's decision to ask its staff to take a pay cut was not the first instance of such belt-tightening in the industry.
He warned that it would not be the last.
He added that the property market remains quite depressed, and that properties were selling at a much slower rate.
He said that the banks curtailing lending had been a major factor in the slowdown.
