Don't be surprised if your favourite estate agent starts developing a year round tan. It's not pleasure, it's business. Some of Dublin's leading new homes agents are heading for the sun, in search of selling opportunities to satisfy their client base in Ireland. Hooke & MacDonald, which reigned over the Dublin apartment market for the last decade, is shortly to begin marketing a range of apartment developments near Marbella, an area that Irish buyers are particularly keen on. Prices for two-bedroom holiday homes range from £135,000 to £220,000. Meanwhile Hamilton Osborne King's new homes division is also working the Marbella strip, where it is handling 72 apartments which are to be developed by McInerney. McInerney has long associations with the area, having set up the Four Seasons country club there over 20 years ago. The latest apartments are to be built around a swimming-pool and cost from £113,750 for a two-bed, two-bath unit to £242,700 for a three-bedroom penthouse. Most have already been sold but HOK will have other Spanish apartments on offer at its exhibition tomorrow and Saturday at the Shelbourne Hotel. Two-bedroom apartments start at £118,950.

HOK will be taking bookings for this development and a few others at their forthcoming exhibition