Douglas Newman Good is on the expansion trail again. It has just opened a new branch at Clondalkin and another is due to open in Lucan any day now. This will bring its total number of branches to 12, and there are more to come over the next year, according to director Paul Newman. This puts it neck and neck with Sherry FitzGerald, which has 11 branches in the city and suburbs. Paul Newman is obviously keeping a very close eye on Sherry FitzGerald - he even bought a few shares in the company - and he could well be thinking of floating his own company on the stock exchange at some stage. However, he says the company has not made any decision and that flotation is only one of a number of options available to it. With this size of branch network in the greater Dublin area, the agency could well be a target for the Halifax building society and estate agency which is apparently sniffing around Dublin at present. Should Halifax get a foothold, its combination of mortgages and property services might shake up the Dublin property business. Another reason why Halifax might have an interest in Douglas Newman Good is its fast growing mortgage business, which is expected to handle £70 million worth of home loans by the end of the year.

Even if the Halifax doesn't manage to get a bit of the action, look out for Re/Max, an international franchise group which has just linked up with Clarke Delahunt & Co in Wicklow. The network, which counts over 55,000 auctioners worldwide, plans no less than 60 offices in Ireland over the next five years. Clarke Delahunt's offices in Wicklow town and Greystones will be the first to trade under the unusual new name Re/Max Garden County.