Searches via the internet for overseas property from the UK fell 17% during September 2010, when compared to the previous month, according to a report from Rightmove and Moneycorp.

Potential buying interest in America and Australia cooled significantly with falls of 22.5% and 21.83% respectively, while the biggest faller was Greece as property searches went down by 24.46%.

Robin Wilson, head of the overseas section at Rightmove, said: "After the storming August we saw, its back to Earth with a bump as users put the brakes on search activity. Good news is the month on month decline this year wasnt as sharp as last years, indicating resolve and sentiment is much improved.

"Once again, traditional lifestyle destinations are resisting the trend best, led by Italy down only 14%. Sardinia, Puglia and Lazio all performed strongly, barely seeing any decline in searches.

"Outside the top 10, Ireland and Austria both recorded minimal drops, great results for destinations not immediately on most peoples radar but strongly reflective of their overlooked status. Austria in particular may continue to perform strongly as the winter season approaches and it picks up the winter sports crowd."
Property in Italy remained fairly high on the search list as it dropped less than the other main areas which are usually popular with UK residents, while searches for property in Tenerife increased by 3.79%.