In the current market, any extra push to flog an extravagant pile is most welcome. So it will be interesting to see if Irish des-res owners looking to sell up will flock to Sherry FitzGerald now that it's the exclusive Irish affiliate of Christie's Great Estates, a subsidiary of Christie's international plc, the world's oldest fine art auction house.

Chistie's Great Estates is the largest network of estate agents in the world and specialises in posh properties which will give Sherry Fitz's vendors access to a global market (as long as their house qualifies as being suitably "high-end" of course).

Christie's Great Estates apparently has more than 850 offices and 35,000 sales associates in more than 45 countries. The only thing is that failing to sell after that kind of exposure is surely the ultimate rejection.

Mark FitzGerald said he is "delighted" to be associated with Christie's Great Estates. We bet you are.