That's according to long-time agent Peter Markey, who works out of Bowe and Lidbury in Gloucester.

"The biggest perception in town is that there's a huge rush moving into town but that's just not the case."

And in his view, the residential property value has only seen a slight 10 per cent increase over the past three years, in spite of a special Domain study of regional areas reporting a 20 per cent gain in 2018-19.

What is true for Peter is that there has been a influx of vacant block sales in the wake of the easing of COVID-19 restrictions after the first wave.

"I sold five blocks in six weeks," Peter admitted.

"That's a year's worth of sales in six weeks."

For Peter, there has been a lot of enquiry in the office from people living outside the region, but not a lot of them have turned into physical inspections.

"Most of the sales have been to locals with a third of the properties for investment," he said.

"Some of the blocks have gone to young people looking to build a home."

Overall the sales have been ticking along as normal, with the exception of over the initial COVID lockdown period, during which time things really died down.

Since then Peter has noticed a change in the type of buyer he's seeing.

"The buyers are really qualified. Husband and wife have had time to talk. They know what they want, they've been to the bank and they're ready to buy," he said.

Another fact about the current real estate market in Gloucester is that there is a lack of listings.

According to Peter, there is a demand for everything from residential to hobby farms, all the way up to large acreage farms but there simply aren't the properties available.

"Properties that are priced well are selling," he said.

"Nothing like a sense of urgency."