Foreign holiday home search trends up 156% as homebuyers ditch cooling housing market for a place in the sun

Market analysis by estate agent comparison site, GetAgent.co.uk, has revealed that a cooling property market could be tempting domestic homebuyers to look further afield, as search interest for terms surrounding foreign property purchases have climbed by as much as 157% since the start of the year.

GetAgent analysed data from Google Trends for a number of search terms around holiday homes and foreign property purchases and how interest in these terms has changed since the start of the year.

The analysis shows that since January of this year, search interest for the term ‘holiday homes abroad’ has exploded, up by 156%.

When it comes to the destination of choice, a French property purchase has seen the largest increase in popularity, with the term ‘Buy property in France’ seeing a 112% increase.

Search interest for property in the United States has also climbed by 96%, with interest in the same search term for Greek properties up by 52% since the start of the year.

The term ‘buy property abroad’ is up 7%, however, searches for Italian holiday homes have remained flat, while Spain and Portugal have seen dips of -35% and -39% respectively.

But what about Blighty?

Well, search interest for UK holiday homes has crept up by just 1% since the start of the year. But with a search interest score of 39.9, the UK remains by far the most popular when it comes to our holiday home house hunting, with the USA coming in second with a score of 16.5.

Co-founder and CEO of GetAgent.co.uk, Colby Short said, “With house prices returning to normality in recent months following the pandemic market boom, homebuyers could be forgiven for looking further afield when it comes to making a bricks and mortar investment.

Property market performance aside, who can blame them for wanting to ditch the unpredictable British summer for guaranteed sunshine and a cheaper cost of living.

But while there may have been an increase in search popularity for foreign holiday homes, it’s fair to say that we know which side our bread is buttered, with UK holiday homes remaining by far the most popular search overall.”