Melbourne is experiencing the biggest building boom "since the gold rush", Planning Minister Matthew Guy has told property lawyers.

And the minister has indicated he is set to decide on scores of large-scale development applications still sitting on his desk before November's state election.

Mr Guy addressed a function at the offices of property and construction lawyers Moray and Agnew, which has experienced a 400 per cent jump in work in recent years on the back of the boom.

"We are going through the greatest level of building, of interest, of growth in our city since the gold rush," Mr Guy told the lawyers' meeting last month.

"I have approved 90 buildings in the central city area since coming to government – nearly three times as many that of Justin Madden before me – and there are more than 70 outstanding applications still to be dealt with in the next few months," Mr Guy told the law firm.