At Mortgage Choice's Merimbula office they have seen a doubling in the number of average enquires for home loans with new business nearly doubled in the last month.

Mortgage broker Jen Hughes said it is also being reflected in the activity in local banks.

"It's hard to say what's happening inside the banks, but we can feel the effect by how extremely busy the lenders are. We deal with 25 plus different lenders and their turnaround from the time we submit a home loan application is usually around two to three business days," Ms Hughes explained.

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"Generally only two or three of the banks have an eight-day wait time. Nowadays though the wait time for an application in more than half the banks we deal with, is eight to 10 days or more."

Ms Hughes believes that COVID is giving people that extra push to opt for the lifestyle they have always dreamed of enjoying.

The move by sea changers is also impacting on council's Development Application Hub where council said it will prioritise bushfire-affected homebuilders.

"We are experiencing a spike in development applications and enquiries, with more people preparing to rebuild after losing homes during the Black Summer fires and an increased interest in local real estate," a Bega Valley Shire council spokesman said.

"In the first nine months of 2020, there has been a total of 447 development applications made to Bega Valley Shire Council, with a total value of $175,993,710.

"This includes 142 new dwellings - an increase of 25 per cent on the corresponding period in 2019," the spokesman said.

He said Section 10.7 Planning Certificates (formerly known as a Section 149 Certificate) that provide information regarding the development potential of a parcel of land have jumped over 75 per cent to a total of 1439 in 2020.