Town seeks new residents with $1 rent

An outback Australian town is bucking the country's cut-throat housing market by offering farmhouses for rent at $1 (99 US cents) a week to families prepared to move to the country.

The town of Trundle, with a population of about 380, is seeking people from from all over Australia to fill six homes, some of which have been vacant for years as the region suffered a long and devastating drought.

But with the town enjoying its best season in a decade and wheat and cereal crops flourishing, locals have banded together to bring in new people to reinvigorate the community.

"It is an idea for people to have a tree change (move to the country) and come out to the Outback of Australia," campaign spokeswoman Cherie Quade told AFP on Wednesday.

"Trundle is not dying but we just wanted to avoid that slippery slope where you lose vital services and the town sort of goes in a quick spiral down hill. We are just doing what we can to preempt any disasters."

The notion of ditching busy city lifestyles, beset by increasingly unaffordable housing, for a "tree-change" country life has taken hold in Australia in recent years, a counter to declining country populations.

Primary school teacher Quade said the latest initiative hopes to bring 10 new families into the town some 350 kilometres (215 miles) northwest of Sydney to breathe new life into its schools.

"This scheme has really invigorated everybody, everybody's really excited," she said. "The kids are getting onboard, (saying) 'Miss Quade, are there people coming to live in Trundle?'."

Quade said a new family coming to the town would be "a really big deal", joking that the local children were excited because it would mean they could play with other children and "not just their cousins".

"We are offering that unique country, small community spirit," she said. "Everybody knows you and says hello to you down the street - it's that welcoming community."

There is a catch though - some of the houses have been vacant for a long time and are in need of renovation so applicants should ideally be handy with a paint brush and hammer.