(1888PressRelease)
August 31, 2007 - Those looking to invest in property overseas may be particularly interested by the potential being offered by the ex-pat British community as people to whom property can be rented or sold.
New figures published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that the number of people leaving the country is at its highest level since such figures began to be compiled in 1991, with 385,000 leaving the country for the long-term in the year to the middle of 2006.
Not all were Britons, of course, with nearly half - 189,000 - being immigrants who had lived in Britain for over a year, the BBC reports. However, the migration trend of those who were British citizens showed a familiar pattern.
In the years 2004 and 2005, five of the ten countries to which the most Britons emigrated were either English-speaking or who had English as an official language, including four of the top six. What was notable, however, was that the two others were Spain, second only to Australia with 58,000 migrants, followed by France with 42,000.
The position of Spain as the favourite European destination has further been emphasised by the announcement this month by property portal Propertyline that 43 per cent of its enquiries had been for Spanish property - well ahead of second placed France. It cited the continued advantages of Spain such as the excellence of its beaches with over 500 blue flags and the ease of accessibility through low-cost airlines as reasons why this popularity is continuing, adding that this has seen off the negative publicity caused by a correction in property prices earlier this year.
If 2006 saw record numbers of people leaving Britain, the number is hardly likely to be less this year with so much foul weather taking the place of summer. Barclays Buying Abroad reported yesterday that the number of enquiries they have received in the last twelve months has totalled 18,000, twice the number in the year before.
Barclays Buying Abroad director Richard Exton has no doubt what the cause for the upsurge has been: "Brits are familiar with the idea that we only have two seasons: the winter and July. It seems that this year, with the terrible weather we have experienced in July and throughout the summer many people are not prepared to sit through a year-long winter and are looking for a getaway to sunnier climates."
So if the ONS record figures reached a record in 2006, there may be little surprise if the record is broken again in 2007. Nor will it be surprising to see rather a lot of those leaving for sunnier climes to end up in Spain.
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