Britain is becoming a nation of property addicts who spend hours searching online for properties they can''t afford, according to new research by Globrix.

Nearly half of Brits regularly surf the web looking at property and 14 per cent say they spend more than an hour a week searching for homes online.

And more than a third of internet users are going online to see how much their neighbours house is worth, the study states.

Those with a "problem", the top one per cent, spent more than three and a half hours trying to find their dream home on the web.

Dan Lee, chief executive officer of Globrix, said: "Everyone knows that the UK''s property crazy - you just need to look at the TV schedules for proof of that.

"What this research shows is that the web is now just as important as the TV when it comes to property entertainment."

However, Google research shows there has been a steady drop in the number of searches for property in the UK since the beginning of the year.