Australian property searches double with new year emigration surge

Highlights

• Overseas searches up 55.3% on December
• Emigration destinations score biggest January rises; Australia up 114%, New Zealand up 91%
  and Canada up 80%
• Australia breaks into top 5 searched countries for the first time
• Top 10 climber chart dominated by Australian regions: South Australia (+183%), Victoria (+138%), Western Australia (+114%), New South Wales (+92%), Queensland (+87%)

Commentary

Commenting on the climbers and fallers in this month’s search chart Robin Wilson, Head of Overseas at Rightmove said:

“We always expect searches to increase in January, with a ‘new year new start’ mentality acting as a catalyst amongst overseas homebuyers and this year has proved no exception. The start of 2011 has seen a massive 55% increase in traffic on December, fuelled by Rightmove’s national TV advertising campaign and the miserable weather in the UK.

The emigration season kicked off with a bang for Australian property with searches up 114%, pushing it into the top 5 countries for the first time. Traditionally a strong emigration destination, Australia has seen as increase in nearly all regions, helped no doubt by Channel 4’s new series of ‘Relocation: Phil Down Under’. Close neighbour New Zealand posted a 91% increase and the other prime emigration target for English speakers, Canada, wasn’t far behind on 80%. If I was advertising properties in these prime emigration destinations, I’d be looking to maximise the surge in interest before the cold hard reality of moving half way round the world starts to dampen enthusiasm and leads.”

David Kerns, Dealing Manager at Moneycorp comments:

“With inflation and fear of job losses hitting consumer confidence, a strong economic headwind is forcing many people in the UK to look for opportunities to emigrate or purchase property overseas.

The surge in interest in Australian property chimes with recent Moneycorp research which found it to be the favoured destination for Brits longing for a new start. Commodity-based currencies such as the Australian dollar remain strong though, which is pushing costs up for expats and reinforcing the need to plan ahead when transferring money.”

Search Data Highlights (download full PDF report)

Top 10 Climbers and Fallers this month (areas with > 100 searches a day)

Top 10 Trending^* Searches this month (areas with > 100 searches a day)

These are the locations showing the most consistent positive performance in searches on Rightmove Overseas.

*Chart Trend is a rolling average of the three previous monthly changes in chart position

Editors Notes

This data is compiled from searches made by users of www.rightmoveoverseas.co.uk during the period 1^st January to 31^st January 2011. Our website records explicit searches that users make for locations chosen from our map based search, or that are entered into search fields and includes tourist regions we have defined for ease of recognition.

• % Change Searches is the % change in searches on the previous month
• Chart position is absolute and determined by aggregate search volume for that location i.e. all the explicit searches for the location plus any explicit searches for sub-regions of the location e.g. Searches for ‘France’ include searches for ‘Paris’.
• Monthly Chart Change is the difference in chart position on the previous month.
• Quarterly Chart Change is the difference in chart position from 3 months ago.
• Yearly Chart Change is the difference in chart position from 12 months ago.
• Chart Trend is a rolling average of the three previous monthly changes in chart position.

The data in this report does not constitute specific advice, forecast or recommendation and is for general interest only. Readers must perform their own research and seek independent professional advice before making any decision to purchase or invest in property abroad.

About Rightmove Overseas

Rightmove Overseas is part of Rightmove.co.uk, the UK’s number one property website and advertises properties for sale in over 90 countries around the globe from agents, developers and owners. On average, Rightmove Overseas receives 80,000 unique visitors a week and generates over 1,400,000 overseas property searches a month for advertisers. Visit us at www.rightmoveoverseas.co.uk.