Residential homes are being sold almost as quickly as they are listed and investors may be beating local buyers to the punch.

Real estate agent John Boyle of Professionals Muswellbrook said listings had become thin on the ground.

He said the trend was being driven by investors who were “snapping up everything in the mid-$250,000 to low-$300,000 bracket”.

“People are moving to town for work and there is very little available, especially in that price range in brick and tile, which investors want because of the low maintenance costs,” Mr Boyle said.

“They’re either already snapped up or under offer.”

Mr Boyle said mine expansions were creating more full-time jobs, which was affecting the supply and demand nature of the market.

“The itinerant workforce is taking up the rentals,” Mr Boyle said.

“People coming in for full-time work would normally rent for six to 12 months while they settle in, but that option isn’t there so they’re being forced to buy, not rent.

“Demand is still tight on rentals.”

Mr Boyle said with more mine developments in the works, the housing market would get tighter.

Jay Shepherdson from JTS Realty said not only had demand for homes increased, but supply had also dried up.

He agreed investors were very active at the moment.

“All the work in town is bringing the investors,” he said.

“Those (mine) projects bring the workers and the workers bring the investors.”

Mr Shepherdson said another reason for the decrease in houses for sale was the demand for rental properties, which had caused many potential sellers to keep their homes as rental properties.

“Some rentals are attracting $60 to $100 a week more than they were,” he said.

Research by Australian Property Growth Fund (APGF) has shown the trend is likely to continue, with an estimated $5.4 billion in infrastructure and mine developments earmarked for the area.

APGF Upper Hunter project manager Alan Norton said research indicated mine and infrastructure projects in the Muswellbrook area would create more than 2500 jobs in the next three to five years.

APGF based its research on current and planned mine and infrastructure projects including Xstrata Mangoola mine, Mt Arthur’s $260 million expansion and $300 million underground project, the $1.1 billion Bayswater B power station, the proposed $600 million Mt Pleasant project, as well as other mine upgrades in the region.