Those with a vested interest in Victoria's real estate market may be encouraged by recent figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Seasonally adjusted data for the number of loans for the construction and purchase of new dwellings revealed a 5.6 per cent rise for the month of April - showing significant improvement.
However, numbers from the three months to April post only a 0.9 per cent increase, demonstrating inconsistency in demand.
Figures were also 1.7 per cent below what they were in the same time period last year, revealing the need for targeted improvement policies.
"We need to put this update into broader perspective - activity in Victoria is continuing to slide off the peaks we saw in 2010-11, which indeed constitute a high base, but policy makers should be keeping close watch over these declines," said Housing Industry Association (HIA) executive director for Victoria, Gil King.
While action has been taken by the Reserve Bank of Australia in the form of interest rate reductions, the full impact may not be realised for several months.
Two consecutive rate cuts by the RBA for May and June have brought the official cash rate down to 3.5 per cent, which may encourage buyers - but, HIA says more is needed to be done.
