The territory government quietly raised the charge to change the use of land from a house block to a strata title from $7500 a unit for the first three units and $5000 a unit after that to $30,000 in last year's budget.

The increase was projected to bring in an extra $3 million this financial year, bringing total revenue from lease variation charges (LVC) to $22.85 million.

However the charge was blasted as spelling the death of townhouses in inner-city Canberra and the industry backlash forced the government to announce a transition package

This year's budget papers showed the charge brought in a mere $8.2 million in revenue.

On budget day, a Treasury spokeswoman pointed to lower than expected commercial stamp duty rates, saying the two figures worked in tandem.

Treasury has forecast next fiscal year's LVC take would be $21.4 million, an 162 per cent increase on the 2017-18 figures.

But those within the industry believe the phenomenal increase in the charge played a part and have called for reform.

Master Builders Association ACT chief executive Michael Hopkins said government should move to codify more lease variation charges and replace the existing calculation method, as it lacked "transparency and certainty".

"This will have the impact of applying a fixed rate of LVC on new development which will give government more certainty of the amount of tax to be raised in any year," Mr Hopkins said.

Mr Hopkins said according to the most recent ABS building approval figures, non-residential building approvals doubled in the ACT in the 12 months to April 2018 compared with the previous year.

At the same time, revenue from lease variations declined by 59 per cent compared to the previous year.

"The sudden increase had the impact of bringing forward a large number of applications submitted during the transition period," Mr Hopkins said.

Mr Hopkins said because of the "excessive" increase, he expected the number of residential applications lodged on the affected blocks since to "have virtually dried-up".

"This is unfortunate given that, at the same time, the government is trying to encourage greater housing choices. This approach sends mixed messages to the community and industry," Mr Hopkins said.

Indeed, last year's change prompted developers to file 147 applications for a lease variation between June 6 and June 30.

By comparison, a total of 243 development applications with lease variations were filed in 2016-17.

Property Council ACT executive director Adina Cirson said said a charge up front would provide greater certainty to developers and to the government when forecasting revenue.

"My developers are happy to pay the fees but in other jurisdictions they know what it will be when they buy the land," Ms Cirson said.

"It's hard with the LVC, there's no firm figure. You can't factor it into your feasibility. Sometimes it can be millions of dollars different to what you expected and it can be a long process to get a determination out of the government.

"Short story is, other jurisdictions levy developers for charges that are known up front, are clearly understood by all parties and gives certainties for the developers, and certainty to the government."

Ms Cirson said the government had commissioned an independent review, and had said any changes that would be implemented as a result would be made in the 2019-20 budget.

Speaking at an ACT Property Council lunch on Thursday, Chief Minister Andrew Barr said they while they would not revoke the charge, they could simplify the system or introduce deferral schemes like they'd already done.

He also said the government could look at a range of incentives "for particular social and environmental outcomes".

"Ultimately if people don't believe me, we'll buy some of the land back, rezone it and we'll sell it again, and we'll make the profit thank you very much. I'm not entertaining this debate around LVC again," Mr Barr said.