On the popular holiday island of Rhodes, for example, a new two-bedroom apartment will be priced upwards of £65,000. The alternative for many buyers is to choose a rural island property, often one in need of renovation. Expect to pay around £100,000 and more for a restored property on Rhodes; £30,000-plus will buy you one in need of renovation.

If the idea of island life appeals to you, consider when you will use the property – or plan to let it: scheduled flights and ferry services to some locations shut down completely outside the peak season. However, rental income can be good in season. “The holiday rental market in Greece and its islands is strong,” says Bishop, “attracting families and couples as well as island-hoppers throughout the long summer.”

Those looking for year-round rental income should consider Athens, the capital on the mainland. Well-served by flights from the UK, following the successful 2004 Olympic Games, its property market has shown an increase in prices of 10% per annum. A one-bedroom apartment will cost from £75,000. Prospective landlords be aware that you will require a licence to offer short-term lets that the Greek tourist board (the EOT) issues.

Crete, the most southerly of Greece’s islands, is a favourite with Britons. For the price of a modest estate car in the UK you can buy a wreck in need of putting back together, but double that to £30,000 and you’ll find a two-bedroom property in an interior village – such as Sgourokefali or Agios, a short drive from the sandy beaches of Kokkino Hani on the north coast – that will simply need some love and attention.

Should you prefer a new property rather than a renovation project, Oonagh Karanjia of agents Crete Property Consultants (www.creteproperty.co.uk) points to one being built by Stavros Kapetenakis of Domisi, located in Rethimnon. “Set on substantial plots with olives trees and surrounded by greenery and with sea views (the sea is 1.5 miles away),” she says, “the nice, sturdy houses are priced from €120,000 (£85,000).”

The properties offer good value for money notes Karanjia in a market that is seeing increasingly strong interest from British investors, tempted by the low entry level process and a somewhat sluggish market. “2006 got off to a slower start than usual,” says Karanjia, “mainly because many developers did not realise that the British have a sudden interest in acquiring an EOT, which seems to indicate that many are buying for investment purposes to earn additional income now or for their future pension.”

In all likelihood Britons will be buying for both investment and future retirement on an island where 80% of foreign house purchasers are British. Inevitably, our coming has pushed up house prices, which are 50% higher than they were a decade ago and rising (7.9% year on year in the first quarter of 2006 according to the Knight Frank Global House Price Index), but Crete, and Greece in general, shows few signs of the rampant house price inflation that has afflicted much of the rest of southern and Eastern Europe.

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