Real estate broker New York Residence has moved to tap into the Irish appetite for overseas property by opening its first office outside the US in the Republic.

New York Residence is the brainchild of Austrian businessman Thomas Guss, who boosted his profile earlier this year by publishing a book about property investment in New York.

The company is opening a chain of offices around the world, but made Ireland its first port of call on the basis that overseas property is popular with institutional and private investors here.

The office is in St Stephen's Green Corporate Centre and is being managed by Veronica Walsh, who has a marketing background, and who earlier this year qualified in auctioneering in New York to obtain a US licence.

Recently, Davy Stockbrokers private investors' doubled their money after just 18 months with the sale of five properties in Manhattan.

According to Ms Walsh, returns in Manhattan have been as strong as those in Ireland over the last decade. "It has appreciated by 14 per cent a year on average over the last 10 years," she said.

Mr Guss set up the brokerage after he began buying property in New York as a private investor and spotted the opportunity for the business.