The Government measures following the recent Bacon Three report have ensured that more and more people are opting to buy homes or apartments in Spain or Florida rather than apartments here.

But buyers need to remember that they are dealing with two very different markets. Not only are the legal and financial backdrops completely different, but so too is the property market itself.

After deciding to buy, one of the first questions facing a purchaser is whether to borrow at home or abroad to fund the purchase. Many people borrow the money in Spain or Portugal or wherever they are buying. This can be a good idea, as it means you can use the holiday property as security against the loan.

But increasingly, people are raising the money here and then purchasing over there. For many, that means raising another loan on their family home, which is not the most cautious or safest way to fund a holiday home, or indeed any second property.

According to Mr Brian Moloney of Moloney Mortgages in Donnybrook, increasing numbers of people are raising money on their family home to buy abroad. Most lenders will lend up to 75 per cent of the value of the main home for a second home. There are many people in their late 30s or 40s who bought into the property market a number of years ago. They may now have a home worth £500,000 but only have a mortgage of £50,000. Borrowing an additional £150,000 and raising the mortgage to £200,000 is not seen as a problem.

The situation is slightly different for people who already have a number of properties. In these cases, lenders will often allow 100 per cent loans on the back of a number of apartments or homes.

Of course, anyone considering buying property in Florida or anywhere else outside the euro zone should be aware that it is extremely risky to borrow in a different currency: loans should almost always be taken out in dollars or whatever is the relevant currency. This means that the rent is received in dollars which can then be used to pay the mortgage, regardless of the dollar/euro exchange rate at the time.

But there are also disadvantages to getting your loan abroad. Foreigners often have to put down far larger deposits than locals. The maximum available to a non-national in the US is generally around 80 per cent of the property's value, while in Spain, institutions will only loan up to 70 per cent - and in some cases, as little as 50 per cent - compared with 90 per cent here.

In Portugal, it is often difficult to even get a loan, as many banks are reluctant to grant loans to overseas borrowers. Those keen on a home in the Algarve may have to go offshore to Gibraltar for funds, or look closer to home.

Conveyancing costs and taxes come to about 10 per cent of the purchase price in Spain and France. Running costs, one of the major concerns of people buying abroad, average about £2,000 a year for a £100,000 apartment, including insurance, refuse collection and electricity.

Last year, the use of legislation to seize foreign-owned homes highlighted the country's draconian embargo laws, where an owner's debts transfer with their property and can result in its appropriation and sale by judicial order.

Interest rates are also different. Again, in the euro zone, which includes Spain, rates should be broadly similar, but interest rates in the UK and the US are currently far higher and that will of course be reflected in your repayments.

Apart from this, purchasers should also remember they are dealing with a very different market. Property has never suffered a serious crash here, but that is not true for other countries. Spain, for example, has had crashes with homes more than halving in value.

At the moment, property on the Costa del Sol is at a record high and buyers should remember that high rents which are set out in developers' brochures are not necessarily always achievable.