Sales are reported to be on the rise in areas outside the Tamworth city limits, with homes and hobby farms in Nundle, Kootingal, Manilla and even Barraba in hot demand.

RuralCo agent Scott Bray put the surge in demand in the area down to a thirst for “quality and not quantity” of life, with locals and even those from major cities looking to settle in rural areas.

“Nundle is going quite well, very well. It’s a place that’s close enough to a regional centre like Tamworth," Mr Bray told The Leader.

“People are looking for a quality of life and not quantity.

“They’re looking for a lifestyle change and that can be in Tamworth because it’s a regional centre or the surrounding districts like Nundle, Kootingal, Manilla and Barraba.

“They’re all the places that are starting to attract people.”

But Mr Bray said the rural buy-up is not just for one age group either, with even retirees, middle age or Generation Y eyeing off hot property in Tamworth's outlying villages and towns.

“We’re finding more enquiries are coming in for a change of lifestyle or a tree change,” he said.

“We’re talking hobby farms, lifestyle farms that could be anything from five acres to 100.

“We’re talking about people who just want to change their life and they can be any age. Some of them are quite young.

“Some are in their mid-life and some are just retiring.”

He said there had been an increase in enquiries since late 2015.

“I think we are seeing the tip of the iceberg, as life goes on there will be more people from not just Sydney, but the coast, moving to Tamworth,” he said.

Mayor Col Murray agreed the area was attractive to city slickers for a tree change.

“Over a number of years our Evocities campaign has been promoting the benefits of rural living,” he said.

“Everytime I go to Sydney I say to my associates it takes me 11 minutes to get to work and on a bad day, it takes me 12,” he said.

“There are a lot of reasons including our house pricing and de-stressing.

“Places like Manilla, Barraba and Nundle have an awful lot to offer, while in Sydney, wages might be relatively much higher than Tamworth or the surrounding areas, the cost of living is so much different in regional areas.”