The capital of the Western Australian state accounted for one-third (33.8 per cent) of all Australia searches on TheMoveChannel.com. Sydney came in a close second, attracting 28.21 per cent. Melbourne was also highly desirable among international buyers, responsible for 19.98 per cent of searches.

Despite Perth’s popularity, though, most buyers ended up in a different state when it came to signing on the dotted line: property in Queensland generated the highest number of enquiries (37.96 per cent), ahead of Western Australia (31.48 per cent).

Queensland’s activity was mostly driven by Brisbane, which was the most popular destination in the state, accounting for one in 20 Australian property searches. But Queensland was also home to three of the 10 most sought-after locations on TheMoveChannel.com, suggesting that while a large majority preferred Western Australia’s Perth, the eastern state had a broader appeal.

New South Wales accounted for one in five enquiries and one in 10 respectively, with buyers mostly looking for homes in Sydney and Melbourne. Adelaideattracted 5.17 per cent of buyers, enough to be the fourth most popular Australian location on the site, but the state of South Australia was responsible for just 0.92 per cent of enquiries.

Tasmania and the Northern Territory were the least popular states, receiving no enquiries on TheMoveChannel.com at all in the last year.

The At a Glance infographic also depicts the activity on Google over the past 12 months, revealing that houses are the most popular type of property in the Australia. Indeed, while previous At a Glance reports have found that generic searches are the most common for each country, “houses for sale in Australia” was the most frequently used keyword, consistently appearing in three times as many searches as “property in Australia” and “property for sale in Australia”. Overall searches for Australian property peaked in January 2013 before falling back to the same levels as last year.

Editor Ivan Radford comments:

“Australia has long been a top destination for expats looking for a new home. Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney and Perth are all regularly ranked among the world’s most liveable cities. That lifestyle reputation drives the majority of buyer interest on TheMoveChannel.com; it is no coincidence that those three are the most looked-for locations.

“The surprise is that while many people searched for the main Australian cities, buyers tended to end up somewhere else during the purchasing process. Only 1 in 20 were looking to Brisbane, but Queensland was the most popular property market in terms of enquiries. Is it a relative lack of listings in certain areas on TheMoveChannel.com that drives them to other cities, or the discovery of lower profile locations that are not as well known among international tourists?

“They may be flexible about where they will live, but buyers are very clear about what they want: it is unusual for a property type to appear in more Google searches than generic property-related keywords. Chinese investors are driving up investment in Oz real estate, but expats – particularly Brits – remain a big portion of the buyer market. With interest peaking at the start of a new year, as the weather worsened in the UK, the focus upon “houses for sale in Australia” may well be the mark of expats already picturing their new, sunny life Down Under.”

Click here to view the full infographic.

Founded in 1999, TheMoveChannel.com is the leading independent website for international property, with than 400,000 listings in over 100 countries around the world, marketed on behalf of agents, developers and private owners.

The website address is http://www.themovechannel.com and the office address is 24 Jack´s Place, Corbet Place, Spitalfields, London, E1 6NN.

Contact Dan Johnson on 0207 952 7650 for further information