February 2005 Report - Release Date 11 March 2005 International Sales Market Review

The graphs below give an overview of interest in International Property international properties on .com, by continent. The first shows the percentage of Trends - international searches on www.primelocation.com which request properties in each continent. The Property Searches second graph shows the change, indexed to September 04, in search volume per continent.

International Searches - % of total searches by Continent, Sep 04-Feb 05

100%

90%

80% s e h c

r 70% a e s

South America l

a 60%

n Oceania o i t

a 50% Africa n r e

t North America

n 40% i

l Europe a t o

t 30%

f o

% 20%

10%

0% Sep 04 Oct 04 Nov 04 Dec 04 Jan 05 Feb 05 Month NOTE: Asia has too few searches currently to allow an effective monthly comparison

International Searches - Change in number of searches per Continent, indexed to Sep 04

200.0

175.0 ) 4 0

p

e 150.0 S

Europe o t North America d e

x 125.0 Africa e d n

I Oceania (

s e 100.0 South America h c r a e S 75.0

50.0 Sep 04 Oct 04 Nov 04 Dec 04 Jan 05 Feb 05 Month NOTE: Asia has too few searches currently to allow an effective monthly comparison February 2005 Report - Release Date 11 March 2005 International Sales Market Review

• Total number of international searches 7.3% of all searches in up +12.7% in February February are for • Searches in North America up +23.5% non-UK property - in a month, as US and Canada popularity soars up from 5.9% in January • Cyprus overtakes Bulgaria as Europe’s rising star

Month-on-Month Comparison - Continents, Jan 05-Feb 05 The short month of February saw the International Property section on Primelocation.com record its Searches - % of Int. Searches - Monthly second busiest month ever, with nearly 125,000 Continent Total (Feb 05) % Change (Vol) searches undertaken. Topping the list of desired locations was France, with 48.1% of searches, well Europe 82.3% +12.5% ahead of second-placed Spain (14.6%).

North America 10.3% +23.5% All continents saw a rise in interest, the largest occurring in North America (+23.5% more searches Africa 4.2% +1.1% than in January), helped by a surge in interest in the USA (+19.8% ) and Canada (+14.5% ). With an average increase across non-UK searches of Oceania 1.9% +8.3% +12.7%, the African continent - and South Africa in particular - saw interest wane, with an overall South America 1.2% +7.1% increase of only +1.1% across the board (South Af- rica -11.5%) since January.

‘All continents saw a rise in interest, the largest being seen in North America Month-on-Month Comparison - Top Ten Countries (+23.5% more searches than in January), Searches - % of Searches - Monthly helped by a surge in interest in the USA C ountry Total (Feb 05) % Change (Vol) (+19.8%) and Canada (+14.5%). ’

France 48.1% +18.4% Apart from South Africa, the only other two areas in Primelocation’s exclusive international Top Ten to fall Spain 14.6% +8.4% in appeal were Bulgaria (-2.0% ) and Portugal (-0.3% ). Some comfort may be drawn by those countries’ real estate agents in the fact that over the USA 5.6% +19.8% last six months they have outperformed every other country featuring on Primelocation - stunning rises of Italy 4.5% +2.5% 184.7% and 180.1% in interest respectively have had them challenging the continent’s more established Portugal 3.7% -0.3% destinations as a place to get on the property ladder.

Whilst these two countries have stalled this month, South Africa 2.0% -11.5% however, Cyprus has re-established its popularity. Perhaps as a result of the bitterly cold month of Cyprus 2.0% +27.5% February, people sought Cypriot property a massive +27.5% more than they did in January. With Australia Bulgaria 1.8% -2.0% nudging Croatia out of the top ten this month too, it seems that a guaranteed place in the sun is still high Turkey 1.2% +12.8% on most people’s list of a prime location to live.

Australia 1.1% +12.5% February 2005 Report - Release Date 11 March 2005 International Sales Market Review i. Background: • Primelocation.com was launched in 2001 and is owned by 220 leading estate agency firms in the UK, including major na- tional agencies , , and . All UK firms list their properties exclusively on Primelocation, making it the only place to view some of the country’s properties . • There are currently around 1,000 agent firms listing their properties on Primelocation, representing over 2,200 offices, both in the U.K. and overseas, now listing in total some 114,000 properties. Primelocation is the acknowledged leading website for upper and middle market UK residential property. With property worth over £28bn listed on the site, it has 50% of the UK market by value, available for sale at any one time. ii. International Positioning: • Primelocation.com has a rapidly growing international property section with over 30,000 properties for sale from over 250 estate agents and property developers in France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Bulgaria, South Africa and Australasia – in all, over 35 countries. • With the continued strong interest in the British buying and investing abroad, Primelocation is actively recruiting international agents and developers to list their properties on Primelocation. iii. UK Positioning: • Primelocation.com is the acknowledged leading website for upper and middle market UK residential property in the UK. With property worth over £28bn listed on the site, it has 50% of the UK market, by value, available for sale at any one time. • Primelocation also lists over 20,000 Prime properties to rent in the UK.

International Price Index - Continent summary

C ontinent Countries currently being searched on

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Europe Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russian Federation, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Canada, Caribbean, Cayman Islands, North America Dominica, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Saint Kitts And Nevis, Saint Lucia, Turks and Caicos Islands, United States Minor Outlying Islands, USA

Dubai (United Arab Emirates), Egypt, Islamic Republic Of Iran, Israel, Kenya, Morocco, Seychelles, Africa South Africa, Uganda

Oceania Australia, New Zealand

South America Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Mexico, Uruguay

Asia Hong Kong, Thailand

***ENDS***

For further information please contact: Louise Walker or Malcolm McCallion – Primelocation.com – Tel: 020 7432 4000 Email: [email protected] or [email protected]. For press information please contact: Jamie Jago or Jo Ashby – Jago Dean PR Ltd – Tel: 020 7228 5464