WHILE Bathurst's median house price has fallen slightly in a 12-month period, property owners should be buoyed by the growth seen in the last five years.
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Since December 2014, Bathurst's median house price has grown by 29.9 per cent, going from $345,000 to $448,000.
The median dropped by 0.1 per cent from December 2018 to December 2019, but real estate agents are seeing evidence of the market getting back on track.
Professionals Bathurst sales specialist Mark Sullivan said the federal election and tightening of finance made for a difficult 2019, but things did pick up.
"For 2020, first home buyers are now representing 33 per cent of our inquiry and loans are being approved quicker than six months ago," he said. "Increased consumer confidence, better access to finance and an increase in quality real estate assets to buy, is generating very favourable conditions for 2020."
Mr Sullivan also noted that while the median for Bathurst as a whole hadn't improved in 2019, the situation was different when suburbs were assessed individually.
"When looking at region averages, I always recommend to both my vendors and buyers to ask your agent for performance results for a specific area," he said.
"Although the region is showing flat-lined results for a 12-month period, many suburbs are experiencing growth, for example Kelso up 2.8 per cent, South Bathurst up 2.69 per cent, and Windradyne up five per cent."
Also happy with the growth is Agent Chapman real estate owner David Chapman.
"Thirty per cent capital growth in five years is fantastic," he said.
"It means that a median sale price property in Bathurst five years ago has increased by $100,000, which is great news."
The drop in median house price last year wasn't isolated to Bathurst, with other regional cities seeing more significant price falls.
Cowra's median house price dropped by 5.4 per cent in that 12-month period, while Dubbo's fell 4.3 per cent.
Mr Chapman said Bathurst was in a much better position comparatively and is also showing signs of increased sales in 2020.
"This is the best January that Bathurst has had pretty much in the last decade," he said.
"We've had 56 reported residential sales in January of this year. When you compare that to previous years, last year was 47, the year before 52, then back to 51, 39, 44, so the start to this year is a silver lining on local property sales.
"It's not all doom and gloom."
He said the market goes through peaks and troughs, so last year's figure wasn't all that concerning.