It's been a good week for estate agent Paul Newman, of Douglas Newman Good's Residential Division, who yesterday paid £3.3 million for a new company headquarters at Leeson Park, in Dublin 6. That amount was probably no more than loose change for Mr Newman this week, after his runaway success with the Custom House Square apartment development in the Docklands.

Over 1,000 people competed for only 98 tax-driven apartments when they went on sale last Thursday. Most of the buyers were investors looking for one of the few remaining tax shelters left in the property market. Mr Newman's agency not only sold the apartments but he is one of three partners in Chesterbridge, the development company which is building the massive apartment scheme on the site of the Sheriff Street flats.

The Chesterbridge boys have hit the jackpot with the designated site which will have about 600 apartments. It paid £4.3 million for the site, which works out at just over £7,000 per apartment. Similar sites would now be expected to make at least 10 times more. One indication of the high value of sites can be seen from today's launch of an upmarket housing development beside the Harold's Cross greyhound stadium. In this case, the cost per site was no less than £130,000.

The Custom House Square development will undoubtedly prove to be one of the most financially successful schemes in this property boom, with the partners likely to walk away with millions each, not to mention at least 60 apartments they are keeping for investment purposes.