A national survey of Australia's building and construction industry has found no strong evidence of a recovery despite a marginal lift in confidence, Master Builders said on Monday.

The National Survey of Building and Construction by Master Builders, the major Australian building and construction industry association, said increased building activity will not be triggered in the short term despite improvement in some key indicators.

"Overall, builders are cautiously confident that an embryonic recovery is underway, but there is no such confidence about expectations for their own business,"said Peter Jones, Master Builders Chief Economist.

"The survey paints a concerning picture of business conditions in building and construction despite recent modest upticks in building approvals and housing finance," he said.

"Feedback from our members is that more concrete forward indicators, such as display centre activity and commercial building inquiries, remain extremely poor," Jones said.

Jones said that residential builders are hopeful business conditions will improve somewhat over the next six months, but this confidence is tempered by the dire day to day conditions experienced by the industry.

"The outlook for commercial building is even less rosy."

He expected no pick-up in activity in the immediate future.

"Until low interest rates show signs of gaining more traction, the Reserve Bank should keep open the possibility of a further rate cut in the near future," he said.