A big upturn in the number of Brits buying property overseas is underway and will continue throughout the autumn, according to research from Moneycorp, the foreign exchange operator.

This seasonal increase in activity has been a feature of the foreign property market in the last couple of years and Moneycorp estimates that the number of people buying abroad increases by as much as 26% in the autumn.

Nick Bull of Moneycorp said: “Our figures show that the number of people buying abroad hits a significant peak in the early autumn as many people use their summer holidays to hunt for their ideal second home.”

He continued: “Interest in buying abroad can quickly strengthen after a few weeks back home as the days shorten and the weather takes a turn for the worse, not that it has been great anyhow.”

France and Spain are still the top destinations for those looking to emigrate, with Bulgaria and Cyprus showing strongly, although newer destinations like the Cape Verde islands are coming into the frame.

Between 2004 and 2006 the number of British people owning a second home abroad soared from 550,000 to 800,000. A further 5.5 million Britons are estimated to live abroad.

ED’S COMMENT

I have to put my hands up and say I didn’t know where the Cape Verde islands were when I keyed in this story. For the record they’re off the coast of Senegal in west Africa and boast the standard “bleached white beaches and turquoise waters” and constitute an “island paradise” (as these places always do). But, come on, Great Britain’s an island paradise too, so why swap the joys of an English country pub, for example, for a bleached white beach? The beer and the company are invariably better in the former.