In more and more cases, the country house is being traded in for a smaller home in the UK and a property in a sunny part of southern Europe. But what can buyers hope to find with an average second-home budget of £250,000? Will a quarter of a million land you a four-bedroom Belle Epoque manor on the Côte d’Azur, or a one-bedroom flat under an easyJet flight-path? And who is buying where?

ITALY: high culture, low prices

In Italy £250,000 buys a wrecked farmhouse that needs complete renovation. There are apartments available in that price bracket in resort towns such as Portofino on the Ligurian coast but dedicated sunseekers rarely choose the Italian coast; Italy tends to draw a different crowd.

James Price, of the estate agents Knight Frank, which works with dozens of local agents in the region, said: “People who buy in Italy usually have a specific interest in the Italian way of life — the art or the culture or the wine. They are usually relocating permanently, they want to learn Italian, be near one of the cities like Florence or Siena or Pisa, and they want a property that needs a bit of work. Rural Tuscany and the rustic way of life is much more attractive to most people than the Italian coastline.”

Fortunately, there are plenty of wrecks on offer for below £250,000, from Viareggio and Lucca in the north to as far south as Grosseto.

Serim Servizi Immobiliari, a Knight Frank affiliate based in Lucca, is currently selling Mulino Infernetto, an ancient mill, 20 minutes from the coast at Viareggio and 50 minutes from the nearest airport at Pisa. The current owners have already drawn up plans to turn the property into a four-bedroom house. Outside, there is room to create a terraced garden. Period features, including a sunken outdoor bath, originally used for storing ground water, have been retained. The property is for sale for £177,800.

FRANCE: old money, good transport links

The South of France has always been the number one choice for northern Europeans. On the Côte D’Azur, £250,000 buys a comfortable but not dazzling apartment near one of the resort towns of Nice, Antibes, Cannes or Villefranche-sur-Mer. “Everybody starts their search wanting something right on the beach but invariably they end up in the hills simply because of cost,” said James Barnes, the associate director of Hamptons International.

“However, you can get some very nice apartments, new and second-hand, around coastal towns like Nice. They won’t be in a premium location but they are still within easy reach of the town and the beaches.”

The South of France is extremely well served by its airports and discount airlines, making it popular with buyers from the Home Counties.

“Our market isn’t retirees necessarily,” said James Barnes, “but it is usually older people who don’t need to worry about accommodation for their children or relatives. They want something they can lock up and leave or possibly use for rental income. It’s not that they can’t afford a villa, they just don’t want one. Their main house is still in Britain.”

Hamptons is currently selling a two-bedroom flat in the Mont-Boron area, on the outskirts of Nice. The property, which was built in the 1980s, has a large reception room and kitchen, a private garden and sea views. It is for sale for £179,000.

SPAIN: little hassle, lots of golf

About 80 per cent of properties for sale on the Spanish coast are new, according to Stephen Headland, of David Headland Associates, a firm of estate agents based in Northamptonshire that specialises in coastal Spain.

The firm has 160 new developments on the Costa del Sol and the northern Costa Blanca on its books. Mr Headland says that new properties tend to attract a specific group of buyers: British investors from the South of England (Northerners prefer Portugal, he says) aged between 35 and 50. One-bedroom apartments start from as little as £80,000; £250,000 buys a new two or three-bedroom apartment with access to shared pools, golf courses and leisure centres. Airports are dotted along the coast — at Gibraltar, Málaga, Almería, Alicante and Valencia — which means most coastal properties will be no more than 50km (30 miles) from an airport.

The majority of buyers use their property for a couple of weeks a year and let them for the remainder of the season. “These aren’t the kind of buyers who want to learn Spanish and settle into village life,” Mr Headland said. “They want a bit of glamour, good shopping and a nice climate. They are a pretty affluent crowd and they don’t want any hassle — no maintenance.”

Two and three-bedroom apartments on the Costa del Sol are most popular with younger buyers, while the quieter, less developed northern Costa Blanca draws older buyers. “The marketplace has changed,” Mr Headland said. “A few years ago the dream was of a three-bed detached villa with a pool. But now most people want capital growth and convenience, so apartments are our major sell.”

El Campanario, near Puerto Banus, is typical of the kind of developments available. One-bedroom apartments begin at £157,000 and two-beds at £217,080. There is a shopping centre, hotel and nine-hole putting course on site, as well as swimming pools, landscaped gardens and a lake. The apartments all come with satellite TV, fitted kitchens and parking.