Sherry Fitzgerald's decision to jack up its commissions from 1 per cent to 1.5 per cent for house sales in the Dublin area could be the clearest sign yet of the slowdown in the property market.

The estate agent said the fee rise was aimed at enhancing the quality of service to clients. It is more likely a bid to boost its turnover. House prices have stagnated in Dublin recently and Sherry Fitz admits to having more houses on its books than it would like.

With an annual interest bill of about €1.2 million, Mark Fitzgerald needs to keep an eye on revenues.

Conventional wisdom would suggest it should reduce its commissions to stimulate business, but this would probably have little effect. The only way to shift a house at present is to drop the price, a bitter pill that most homeowners are loathe to do.

The Permanent TSB house price index reported houses in Dublin were fetching an average €429,151 in March. By increasing its commission by 50 per cent, Sherry Fitz would stand to make an extra €2,146 on average for every house sale in the capital.

It's a tidy sum. Not that Sherry Fitz is on the breadline. It will be a few months before we discover how much profit the estate agent banked last year. We do know, however, that its share of the €40 million sale of myhome.ie to The Irish Times was a not-too-shabby €9.4 million.