Sicily and Sardinia are spearheading the rise in destinations in which Britons are looking to buy property overseas, it was revealed.

Property website Rightmove said worldwide site searches last month had increased 73 per cent on April last year.

Sicily enjoyed a 115.31 per cent leap in searches, with Sardinia going up 31.3 per cent, while the Italian regions of Lazio, Campania and Liguria also showed large increases.

But Britons looking to spend time in the sun abroad appeared to turn a cold shoulder towards property in far-off places, with interest in the Australian states of Victoria, South Australia, Queensland and Western Australia all decreasing last month.

Foreign exchange company Moneycorp said there had a 62.5 per cent drop in inquiries for Australian properties in April 2010.

Rightmove's overseas head Robin Wilson said: "It's exciting to see search volumes picking up as it seems Brits are coming back to overseas property.

"There's no doubt absolute traffic volumes are down on the bubble peaks of 2007/2008, but there's a ground swell of consumer confidence and resolve among serious lifestyle buyers to put into practice the purchase plans they put on hold last year."

"It's not clear yet what effect the new Parliament will have on attitudes towards purchasing overseas. Some buyers we speak to say it's given them even more incentive to move, others are playing a more cautious game to see what effects on currency rates the expected economic measures might have.

"Sardinia and Sicily are absolutely the stars of Mediterranean property right now and deservedly so," he added.