Yesterday the Office of National Statistics released data showing that 385,000 people left the UK for the long term in the year to mid-2006. This news is timely for us, as it coincides with some work we have just completed analyzing UK Internet searches containing at least one of the following keywords: ‘property’, ‘properties’, ‘estate agents’, ‘estate agent’, ‘flats’, ‘flat, ‘house’, or ‘houses’, plus a regional term over the 4 weeks ending 4th August in 2006 and 2007
Top 10 overseas property locations by share of UK Internet searches for the four weeks ending 4th August

We saw a 24% increases in the volume of UK Internet searches for overseas property, with France and Spain still the top destinations for Brits looking to buy overseas. Of the top five regional searches within France, four were related to Brittany, making it the most popular French region followed by Normandy.
This year we have also seen interest returning to other Mediterranean countries, with UK Internet searches for Italy, Portugal and Cyprus significantly increasing. Cyprus saw the largest increase within the top 10, more than doubling year-on-year. On the other hand, searches for the less mainstream locations of Bulgaria and Turkey fell by 9% and 1.5% respectively.
Searches for the Republic of Ireland increased by 33% year-on-year and the Emerald Isle entered the top 10 overseas destinations, pushing out Australia, which saw searches decrease by 43%. New Zealand has clearly benefited from a combination the Lord of the Rings effect and some serious marketing. It is the only non-European destination in the top 10, ranking above Australia, the USA and Dubai
One probable driver of the increased interest in overseas property has been the steady increase in UK house prices. As speculation continues over the future of the UK property market, buyers are keeping an eye on rising prices, with UK Internet searches for “house prices” increasing by 56% year-on-year. The highest volume generic, or non-branded, search term sending visits to Property websites during the four weeks ending 4th August 2007 was ‘house prices’. As a consequence, UK Internet visits to house price website www.nethouseprices.com were up 10% year-on-year from July 2006 to July 2007, while www.houseprices.co.uk was up by 28% over the same period. Both websites ranked within the Top 20 most visited Property websites during July.