Property in established overseas markets was massively popular with visitors to the TheMoveChannel.com in 2007, with Europe’s ‘old masters’ dominating our annual enquiries chart...

France continued its unmatched reign as TheMoveChannel’s top destination for property enquiries with a whopping 20% of total sales enquries over the year – That’s an average of 750 enquries for per month for properties listed on the website.

Despite being plagued by falling prices and a pervasive sense of doom and gloom, Spain still came in second with 14% of total enquiries, proving that investors were undeterred by the slowdown in the market that afflicted  the country for much of 2007. 

Fuelled by the rising popularity of Southern Italian destinations such as Calabria and Lamezia, Italy built on its impressive monthly performance in our ‘Top of the Props’ chart to land at number three with a creditable 12% of total enquiries.

Bulgaria consolidated its position as an emerging market brimming with potential as it took fourth position in the chart, which comes as no surprise given its status as world’s number one destination for house price growth in 2007 (Global Property Guide).

The wave of European success continued with Germany, Portugal and Cyprus garnering almost 22% of total enquiries between them.

All three were individually beaten by the USA though, which crashed in at number five, with 8.6% of enquiries – a sure sign that with weakness of the dollar against the pound, and falling prices due the ongoing subprime crisis, investors saw an opportunity to snap up some major bargains across the pond.

TheMoveChannel.com’s most popular destinations by sales enquiry for 2007 are as follows:

 *Results based on number of sales enquiries generated on a month by month basis over the whole year.

**Results above do not include sales enquires for countries generating interest outside the top 10.

Overall, Countries in the EU dominated the chart, with European countries attracting almost 80% of total sales enquires.

Dan Johnson, Managing Director of TheMoveChannel.com, commented: "As our nearest neighbour, it's great to see so much interest still being maintained in French property. People from the USA and Australia talk about how diverse Europe is given how close the countries are, and France is like a little microcosm of that phenomenon, with a huge number of different geographical and social environments packed into the
country.

Dan Johnson continued: “Britanny, Normandy, the Alps, Aquitaine, the Dordogne, the Loire, Corsica, the Pyrenees, and of course the Riviera - all of these areas have their own unique character and lifestyle, and all are popular with British buyers. Low cost airlines are now connecting travellers with an increasing number of the smaller provincial airports, providing us with a gateway into a range of less well known destinations. I expect British interest in French property to continue as we explore the hidden corners of this great country in ever greater numbers". 

To view excellent property investment opportunities in any of the countries above, please visit the property section of the website: http://www.themovechannel.com/property/

Jaimie Kanwar