JUST six months after opening, Ward & Partner’s Overseas Division has been snowed under with inquiries from people wishing to relocate to sunnier climes.

The division is so successful that it is expanding into the Algarve and Cyprus.

The division, which covers the Spanish coastline including the southern and northern Costa Blanca, Costa del Sol and Costa del Azahar, has done no advertising beyond a page in Ward & Partner’s auction catalogue and window display, with the majority of the inquiries coming from Ward’s 47 offices throughout the South East.

High equity in properties here makes now a particularly good time to go, especially to the Southern Costa Blanca where prices are still reasonable.

One example is Diane Clark of Rochester who in February went on an inspection tour with one of Ward & Partners’ associated companies to the sunny Costa Blanca.

She bought a three-bedroom detached home in Bigastro, 30 minutes from Alicante airport, for £120,000.

David Allen, director of Ward & Partners Overseas Division, said: “One and a half million foreign residents are proof that Spain has much to offer to all ages, and there are more UK residents in Spain than all other foreign residents combined.

“We expect Cyprus and the Algarve to draw a different type of market.’’