The survey was undertaken by overseas mortgage specialist Conti.

After struggling with recession and other economic factors in the last decade, Spain is now making a comeback and its economy is starting to improve.

This has seen Spain return to the number one location for overseas buyers in the first three months of 2015.

Conti said more than half (54%) of its enquiries in the first half of the year were for properties in the nation.

This helped it move above France to be the most popular location for Brits buying overseas. France took second place while Portugal rounded out the top three.

Enquiries across all nations were 41% higher than a year ago, buoyed by stabilising house prices in many European countries and growth in tourist numbers.

Clare Nessling, director at Conti, said the market in Spain was no proving attractive for overseas buyers.

“It was only a few years ago that the Spanish property market was shrouded in doom and gloom,” she said.

“Dogged by oversupply and plunging prices, many investors were giving it a wide berth. Fast forward to 2015, however, and things are looking much rosier.

“Bargain prices and the opportunity to negotiate these down even further with some very motivated sellers mean that it’s most certainly a buyer’s market. This together with historically low interest rates and the growing strength of the pound is making it much more affordable to buy there, and signs that the market is improving are starting to lift the confidence of prospective buyers.”