Peak industry groups have criticised new state government levies on developers in outer growth suburbs – so-called "infrastructure development levies" – they say will add significantly to the cost of housing at a time when property prices are peaking and homebuyers struggling with affordability issues.

"The cost to a new homebuyer purchasing a single lot in these new areas will be at least $7000 greater than they were last year," the Urban Development Institute of Australia's Danni Addison said.

Victoria's Planning Minister Richard Wynne on Thursday set the new dollar amounts for infrastructure charges under amendments to the planning act introduced in August last year.

Mr Wynne said the levies had been restructured because the "old system hadn't been updated in six years".

Local councils and the community were struggling with rising infrastructure costs, he said.

Ms Addison said the hike will raise charges by 50 per cent compared to the average in July 2015.

In a double whammy, another change set to be introduced will result in developers paying levies on land subdivided for public roads, parks and other works, that they were previously exempt from paying.

The Property Council's Victorian director, Sally Capp, said the changes to tax legislation currently before Victoria's Parliament would increase housing costs by an estimated $3000 per land lot.

But Mr Wynne said developers were benefiting from the planning work the funds contribute to while still paying far less than councils or the state government to deliver well-planned communities.

"The new fee structure has been set a fair level to recover the cost of planning and building infrastructure," he said.

State coffers are already being boosted by record land sales, with the latest National Land Survey Program showing lot sales in Melbourne peaking, along with Sydney and south-east Queensland.

Land prices have risen to highs last seen in 2011 with Melbourne's median lot price now at $228,000, survey director Colin Keane said.

About 42 per cent of all land lots sold in the September quarter across Australia's four largest capitals were in Melbourne, he said.

The Perth new land market continues to sell well below its long running average, posting 1572 sales for the quarter.

Ms Capp said the government's Growth Area Infrastructure Contribution charge introduced in 2010 had been supported by industry on the understanding it didn't apply to land used for state infrastructure.

"The bill currently before Parliament seeks to overturn the industry-government agreement," Ms Capp said.

"This is unacceptable and the community will see it for what it is – a cash grab which will hurt families in the growth areas."

Only a small portion of development charges already collected, about 4.3 per cent, has so far been spent on infrastructure, both groups maintain.

"There's a lot of money being collected, yet we are not seeing where the funds are going and the infrastructure backlog is simply not being addressed in the areas that need it most," Ms Addison said.