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Brits have been bailing out of their homeland faster than you can say bye bye blighty – so why are they all going and where on earth are they ending up? TheMoveChannel.com finds out the truth behind the run for the sun...

‘Britain has gone to the dogs/ there’s nothing great about Great Britain’ etc etc. What do you think? Has Britain as we know it vanished forever under a seething mess of knife crime, unemployment, credit crunch and bad weather? Many would say a definitive yes.

Safety concerns and crime rates have shot up in Britain, and today’s Peace of Mind Index by Halifax Home Insurance reveals that almost half of Brits don’t feel safe in their own homes.

The main concerns centred around noisy streets, unexpected visitors and being alone at night.

The first survey of its kind, the Peace of Mind Index found that women have a lower peace of mind (POM – what an appropriate acronym for this story) than men (unsurprising); there is higher POM in more rural, less populated regions (again, unsurprising); women living alone have a higher POM score than those living with parents, in shared accommodation or as a single parent (surprising) and there is greater POM amongst homeowners than those renting or in housing association accommodation.

The survey also discovered that people living in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland have a higher POM score than anywhere in England.

Martyn Foulds, Senior Claims Manager at Halifax Home Insurance said, “Society has changed significantly in the past few decades.

“The aim of the Halifax Peace of Mind Campaign as a whole, and the Peace of Mind Index as the crux of this, is to get to the core of what makes British people feel safe in the home,” he added.

So, is it a fear of being victim to crime what is making so many Brits start a new life elsewhere? That is certainly top of many lists belonging to those who have emigrated to countries such as Canada and New Zealand. They also cite a better quality of life for them and their children, more space, less pollution and friendlier people.

Perhaps unsurprisingly then, one in six Brits is considering buying a home overseas this year and these buyers are now 17 per cent more likely to be considering a permanent move than 12 months ago.

Those who are thinking of buying abroad have shifted their interest from properties to be used solely as investments to permanent homes for themselves and their new life abroad.

The research by specialist currency broker, Foreign Currency Direct, found that the weak pound has led to property purchases abroad being seen less as an investment - investment only purchasers dropped by 47 per cent from 32 per cent in January 2008 to 15 per cent in January 2009.

The survey found that the poor UK weather is an increasingly important factor in the decision to buy abroad, with a 48 per cent increase in Brits citing the UK weather as a key reason for abandoning Britain.

Brits are becoming increasingly fed up with the cost of living in the UK with 45 per cent of those planning to buy property abroad in the next 12 months citing it as a reason for their decision.

Peter S. Ellis, Chief Executive of Foreign Currency Direct commented on the findings, “We are seeing a distinctive shift in what motivates Britons to buy a property overseas.

“The results from this latest research show that, while people are still looking to buy property abroad, it is increasingly for a permanent move or as a holiday home rather than as an investment opportunity,” he added.