Leggett Immobilier Love France indices – January 2012

Leggett Immobilier are pleased to announce the January 2012 results of their  “Love France*” index.

• Site visits increase to over 100,000
• Page views increase from 1.38m to 1.55m
• Poitou Charentes storms back into favour
• Purchases from Jersey & Guernsey likely to increase
• Social media & “mobile” begin to take off

Executive summary
2011 saw Leggett Immobilier increase sales by almost 30%.  Jan 2012 has started in the same vein and, with interest in www.frenchestateagents.com rocketing, this year looks as though it could be a strong one for the agency.
Headline figures for January 2012 are:
2012                    (2011)
Visits :        100,266                (98,485)
Pageviews:     1,550,770             (1,385,570)
Time on site:   11.46mins            (10.58 mins)

It has been interesting to note that one of the biggest jump in visitor numbers has come from the Channel Islands with an increase of 85% from Guernsey and 46% from Jersey. These potential buyers have also taken a strong interest in our new website of prestige properties (www.leggettprestige.com) although these figures are not included in this indices.
January also saw important increases in vistor numbers from Russia (up 97%) and Hong Kong (up 86%) and our Chief Executive, Trevor Leggett, will be analysing these figures further in our review of Q1 in April.
Last month also saw a big jump in referrals to the site from social media sources such as Facebook & Twitter. Users accessing the site from mobiles saw a dramatic rise and now constitutes 8.5% of all visitors (2.5% this time last year).

Most popular destinations
French regions searched in order of popularity in January 2012:
South-West France could well be back in favour this year as last month saw dramatic rises for both Poitou Charentes (visitor numbers up by 136%) and Aquitaine (up by 106%).  We should know by the end of Q1 if this is set to be a trend for the year.

1. Poitou Charentes
2. Aquitaine
3. Brittany
4. Limousin
5. Languedoc Roussillon
Where are visitors coming from?
Visitors came from 175 different countries in January, with a noticeable jump from the Channel Islands, Hong Kong and Russia.  Traditionally strong sources such as Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland saw slight falls:
1. UK
2. France
3. USA
4. Australia
5. Ireland
6. Netherlands
7. Belgium
8. Canada
9.  Spain
10. Germany
What are they looking for?
The property with the highest number of page visits in January 2012 was this superb development in the heart of the picturesque village of Brantome (Dordogne). Originally a 17th century monastery the development is set in 1.5 acres of beautiful grounds with an option of 1, 2, 3 or 4 bed houses. Prices start from €125,350.

Notes for editors:
*Leggett Online Visitor Enquiries in France (LOVE France)
Following a report that the Bank of England are now using internet search data as an economic indicator, Leggett Immobilier are pleased to publish their “Love France*” index – a monthly analysis of visits to their leading French property website.
Leggett Immobilier are one of the leading international estate agencies in France and have built up an unrivalled reputation over the last two decades.  We have representatives in all of the most popular areas of France and our website (www.frenchestateagents.com) currently has over 7,200 propertes for sale.
Statistics are taken from our international website and do not include figures from our domestic website which services local buyers, nor from our prestige website which services the luxury end of the market..