After two decades as an estate agent on the Algarve, Alison Hojbjerg is no stranger to Britons seeking a place in the sun. Recently, however, the steady trickle of calls from the UK has turned into a torrent — and the prospective buyers are often in a different league from her staple lineup of well-heeled retirees.

“These would be chief executives of very, very big, big UK companies — telecoms companies, IT companies, defence companies,” she said. “Very often they fly in with their own private jets.”

Some of the Brits say they are refugees from the instability of Brexit. However, German-born Hojbjerg, a director of QP Savills, which sells luxury villas worth as much as €20m (£17.6m), says there is a much bigger factor