Million pound houses are no longer that unusual in Dublin and we are even getting used to that mind-boggling phenomenon, the £5 million house. These are still rare enough here to make front page news, whereas in London about 70 properties are currently on the market priced at over £5 million sterling. These range from huge stucco houses on top roads like The Boltons in Kensington, to vast rock star pads in Regents Park. Agents there reckon that the best way to sell these special properties is "off the market". This little phrase means a property is being offered quietly to an inner circle of agents rather than being marketed in the full vulgar glare of publicity. For sellers it offers enormous potential - they keep their privacy and they frequently get more money. But "off the market" sales work for only a certain category of houses. No use bragging about your four-bed semi being "off the market" in Dublin.