GOING UP: Spain has become the winner with a 26% leap from 18.6% of all overseas property searches in Jan/Feb 2008 to 23.4% in Jan/Feb 2009. The average house price of properties searched in Jan-Feb 08 in Spain dropped from €489,987 to €334,020 in Jan/Feb 2009.

GOING DOWN: British secondhome buyers have dropped the USA as a preferred destination – with a 57per cent slump from 7.73 per cent of overseas property searches in Jan/Feb 2008 to 3.33 per cent in Jan/Feb 2009, according to PropertyIndex.com. The average house price searched by Brits in the USA dropped from €895,170 in Jan-Feb 2008 to €503,473 in Jan/Feb 2009. Another surprise winner was Turkey, increasing by 154 per cent in Jan/Feb 2009 at 7.18 per cent compared with Jan/Feb 2008 at 2.83 per cent of searches. The average house price in Turkey jumped from €74,718.95 in Jan/ Feb 2008 to €90,154.76 in ’09.