Victoria’s population boom, with nearly 85,000 overseas migrants settling here in the 12 months to September 2018, is keeping the state’s economy out of trouble as the property market continues to slow.

More than a third of Australia’s 240,000 overseas migrants last year made their way to Victoria, with most of the new arrivals settling in Melbourne and keeping the state's economic engines running hot.

Overseas migrants have kept Victoria's economy pumping. Credit:Scott McNaughton

But there are worrying signs that the housing slump is eating away at consumer confidence, according to the Department of Treasury and Finance.

Treasury boss David Martine is frank in his assessment that “Victoria’s economic growth is being partly driven by strong population growth”, with 14,000 other newcomers, in net terms, arriving in Victoria during the same period from the other states and territories.