Real estate agent Warren Weick has been selling properties here for over 20 years, but he's never seen a market like the current one.

"It's unbelievable," he said. "We had bushfires last year but this year we've got real estate fires."

Warren said he's easily sold more than double what he normally would over the last six months, and lately properties have been selling before they even hit the web site.

Record levels of demand combined with low stock availability are pushing prices ever higher.

Currently, Warren has eight houses for sale in and around Bellingen, five of them with price tags in excess of a million dollars.

And it's not just Gleniffer commanding the big bucks - there are houses on small acreages in Kalang, Brierfield, Hydes Creek and Urunga going for $1.2 to $1.6 million.

"I know it's a lot of money but I've had so many buyers tell me, 'I've got a million bucks to spend'," Warren said.

"And they're finding it bloody hard to buy a little bit of rural with a house on it for a million dollars."

Figures from the September quarter's Domain House Price Report put Bellingen in the top five regional areas in NSW for price growth off a high base.

Over the last five years, median house prices here have increased by 40.2 per cent, from $410,000 to $575,000.

The only spots ahead of us in terms of both price and growth rate are Byron, Ballina and the Tweed to our north and Shoalhaven on the south coast.

Byron's median price is now an eyewatering $1,160,000; it's seen a 74.4 per cent increase in prices compared to September 2015.

In Ballina, the figures are $690,000 and 42.3 per cent; Tweed is $663,000 and 44.1 per cent, and Shoalhaven $620,000 and 55 per cent.

Price rises generally across regional areas are being attributed to an exodus of workers from metropolitan areas.

Confined to their houses during the worst of the pandemic, it seems people not only discovered working from home was perfectly possible, but also that they'd rather live somewhere nicer to do it.

Also part of the exodus are the 'forced retirees', people making their sea/tree change earlier than expected because of the damage COVID-19 has wrought on their industry.

Once the travel restrictions eased in June, the floods of inquiries began.

"I don't think rural Australia expected the impact we're getting," said Suzanne Atkinson from Cardow & Partners in Bellingen.

"I think COVID changed a lot of people's views on life. People are realising they can work from home in regional Australia.

"They can have a lifestyle, earn an income, have a really good family life."

She said while there are more properties pushing towards a million dollars, the majority are still in the $600,000 to $850,000 range.

Buyers are coming from various places, including Byron Bay, the Central Coast and the Blue Mountains, as well as locals displaced from the rental market because owners have decided to either move in themselves or cash in their investment.

Suzanne said there's a good spread of ages among the buyers, but the majority would be families with children.

"They're 35-45 year-olds with kids going to school," she said.

"There's a lot of young couples coming out of the city, I've never seen so many," agreed Warren Weick. "As many younger couples as older couples."

Andrew Perrot recently broke away from OpenHomeOnline to set up his own real estate agency.

In his first week, he sold three properties; two of them went without any advertising.

He said there's always been plenty of people who want to move to Bellingen, but more of them are now actually taking the plunge.

"During the last school holidays there were a lot more people around who intended to buy," he said.

"Traditionally in the school holidays you'd have a lot of people around and they'd be looking but really tyre-kicking. There's a lot less tyre-kickers around.

"The problem with the market is that demand's up, you've got so many people looking, but not enough selling."

So why aren't more people selling?

According to Warren, potential sellers who'd like to upgrade while staying in this area are worried about being able to find something they like at a price they can afford.

"What's happening with the sellers is they're thinking, is it worthwhile selling? Yes I'm going to get good money but what do I replace it with and what's it going to cost me?"

He said most who are selling are either relocating to another region or moving to a retirement village.

"The ones who want to better themselves in Bellingen find there isn't the stock and they can't afford it."

And the problem has only worsened over the last six weeks.

"Less and less stock and even more buyers," Warren said. "When Melbourne and Brisbane open their doors we'll probably get a run of them too.

"We've got that many people coming from the cities, no way are we going to be able to supply enough real estate for them. No way."