City and Country Reality told The North West Star on Monday January 24, that more than 20 houses had gone under contract in the first two weeks of the new year, outweighing the number of rental contracts.

City and Country Realty principal Keiran Tully said the majority of the people buying were people who had rented the last 12 months.

"A lot of people who move out here have a probation so they'll rent for 6-12 months before buying," Mr Tully said.

"Buying has picked up tremendously and we have a lot of multi offers going at the moment.

"We have 40 properties under contract at the moment which includes 20 just this year."

Mr Tully said there were 300 housing listings across the Mount Isa catchment.

"There are about 300 listings across Mount Isa and Cloncurry and we have another 20 listings going up in the next few weeks.

"Generally sub-2019 we would sell 60 houses a year, last two years we have sold 160+."

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Mr Tully said the rental market was forcing tenants to look into the buying market as it was cheaper.

"More people are leaning towards the buying market than renting because they can buy a house cheaper than renting one," he said.

"For a $311,000 property your repayments are $320 a week as opposed to if you were to rent that house you'd be paying $550+ a week."

While tenants move into the buying market, rentals remain in short supply as tenants hunt for larger houses.

"There are not many houses available to rent as majority of the market is units. There are 40 houses available but are mostly two bedroom and we are receiving 10 to 15 applicants a house," Mr Tully said.

"We have 75 rentals available. The average price for a unit is $280 a week, while a house is $452.

"These are normal numbers for this time of year. The first two weeks of the New Year is a bit quiet, but this week we have 15 new tenants moving in."

Mount Isa has struggled to keep up with the demand for housing through the COVID-19 pandemic with Mount Isa City Council investigating developing a new suburb; however Mr Tully does not believe this is the answer.

"As silly as it sounds it will be the new against the old, as everyone will want to live in the new suburb," he said.

"From 2014-2017 when there was 300-odd vacancies on the market during the downturn, that would turn into 600 vacancies with the addition of a new suburb."

"There are a lot of vacant properties that are already developed with water, power and sewer around town, why build a new suburb when there are already vacant blocks.

"There is a whole street vacant near the Overlander Hotel that is empty. There are still vacant blocks in Healy Heights and it's the newest suburb and it's not even completely build on yet. So a new suburb would not fix the problem long term."

Mr Tully said he would prefer to see government incentives, like the first home owners grant, but to buy in remote areas.

"I personally would like to see more government incentives to build or buy homes that already exist in Mount Isa, not just incentives for first home owners," he said.

"We need better funding options."

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