There were 282 new houses and 30 other residential properties built in Wagga over the last 12 months, amounting to about $111 million in construction - down from $130 million last year.

Nevertheless the report shows Wagga still faring substantially better than the metropolitan cities, where the number of new apartments has sunk nearly 35 per cent.

Riverina Master Builders Association president Rowan Towse said the mood among builders was cautiously optimistic, but tinged with ever-growing uncertainty.

"Wagga, being regional, is not quite as impacted yet, but we may experience some downturn from now on," Mr Towse said.

"It would be good to have a crystal ball."

He said many clients around Wagga had shown interest in the HomeBuilder grants, which he said could help boost the construction industry and the economy in general.

Mr Towse said builders were feeling a renewed sense of pride at being put at the forefront of the national economic recovery effort.

"Normally we're seen as blue collar most days of the week, but when something like this happens we come through pretty strong," Mr Towse said.

"We've been deemed essential and everyone's been able to keep working, so we all feel a bit more secure now in the industry."

In other news

Housing Industry Association economist Tim Reardon said that their preliminary surveys had turned up promising results for HomeBuilder, particularly regional areas such as Wagga.

"The $750,000 caps on HomeBuilder are very restrictive in the Sydney market, but not as restrictive in the Wagga Wagga market," Mr Reardon said.

"The strength of the home building market is encouraging for employment over the next year, and home building will support the wider economy and stop a more material downturn."

Mr Reardon said the situation in Victoria was concerning, but that the country as a whole was fairing better than economists had hoped several months ago.

Mr Reardon said that he believed the worst of lockdown was in the past, and that economy was on track for a gradual recovery.

"We're hoping to see sales stabilise, and I don't expect we will go back to the lows we saw in the previous three months," Mr Reardon said.

Mr Reardon said the full impact of HomeBuilder would become clear in October, when the Australian Bureau of Statistics releases its figures for the July and August period.