The buy-to-let craze that has swept the country in the past five years has spilt into ever more exotic markets, with investors buying up thousands of properties abroad in the hope of capital growth.

Official figures due out in March will show that that the number of English people renting out a home abroad continued to rise last year after rising by a quarter in 2004. A growing proportion of second homes abroad is in more unusual locations, outside the traditional favourites of Spain and France.