Italy moves up searches ladder

Italy has become a more favoured destination for those seeking overseas property, it has been revealed.

Property portal Pimelocation.com released details of its most popular locations for searches, either by country or by specific home, which indicated that Italy had improved in the final month of 2009.

It was the sixth most sought-after destination, up from ninth in November.

At the same time, the US was unchanged in first place and Spain remained in second.

Turkey, Portugal, France and Cyprus were all in the top ten as well.

The portal described Italy as a "rapid climber" in the table last month.

Writing for Country Life recently, overseas real estate expert Paul Hudson noted that top-end residences in the country rose in value by between nine and 27 per cent in the period from 2004 and 2009.

At the same time, they only dropped by amounts ranging from 0.85 per cent to 1.25 per cent last year, he added.