Those buying property in the US – which includes Florida property buyers – are increasingly doing so for investment purposes, rather than for lifestyle, it has been suggested.

Head of overseas at Rightmove.co.uk Rob Wilson said casual buyer property searches were tending to fall in the south-eastern parts of the country.

He stated: "We think that more lifestyle-oriented buyers are acting more cautiously against continued negative to neutral sentiment in the media, whereas more focused investors are zeroing in on distressed sales and bargains."

Those searching for Florida property may concentrate on these latter two categories, as the state is one of the hardest hit by the subprime crisis.

This week’s Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices showed that the average house price in the US as a whole fell 19.1 per cent year-on-year over the course of the first quarter of 2009, the highest figure ever recorded by the survey for a three month period.

Among the cities with large falls was Miami, down 28.7 per cent.