While harbour views and a glimpse of the city skyline can be seen from the car, Mr Man is more interested in the real estate on show as the top line vehicle winds its way around some of the eastern suburbs' best streets.

"I would like a house in Double Bay or Vaucluse, close to good schools and for around $10 million to $20 million," said Mr Man, who works in finance and investment.

The tour comes courtesy of prestige real estate agency Sydney Sotheby's International Realty and it is just one example of how the city's real estate agents are enticing potential Chinese buyers during China's Golden Week.

Golden Week, which kicks off on Saturday, is one of just two major holidays in mainland China, and many cashed-up citizens visiting Australia on vacation also jump at the opportunity to inspect real estate.

Sotheby's principal and agent Michael Pallier said there had been somewhat of a drop-off in Chinese buyers recently.

In September, of four sales he made of homes worth more than $10 million in the eastern suburbs and lower north shore, three were made to Australian buyers, with just one to a Chinese buyer.

"If I had done that this time last year, it would have more likely been three Chinese buyers and one local buyer," Pallier said.

Beijing-based real estate promoter Arron Liu agreed business had declined in recent months. Mr Lui, who organises tours in Australian cities for prospective Chinese buyers, says more restrictive lending requirements from Australia's big four banks, aimed at foreign borrowers, were to blame.

"Last year, we organised about three trips a month of about five or six people each time," Mr Liu said.

"Now we only have a few people [interested] but we have yet to have enough to form a group."

But the Chinese are an important part of the market for the city's luxury properties and Golden Week offers the perfect opportunity for agents to roll out the VIP treatment.

That is why Pallier invested in the top line Rolls Royce just days ahead of Golden Week. It was an upgrade from a two-door Bentley he previously owned that was more difficult for clients to get in and out of.

He puts the decline in Chinese buyers down to the introduction of a further 3 per cent stamp duty in NSW on foreign buyers this year, along with greater regulation from China in its citizens taking money out of the country.

By law individuals in China are limited to taking the equivalent of $US50,000 out of the country each year and earlier this year China started forcing its state-owned banks to delay or block large sums of money going overseas.

"But the desire to buy a place in Australia and live here in Sydney is still strong," Pallier said.

His wife, also an agent for Sotheby's Lulu Pallier, works closely with Chinese buyers both in Sydney and Shanghai. She said with just "a decent apartment costing $10 million" in Shanghai, Chinese still saw Sydney property as a good deal.

"They are not necessarily buying for a capital gain but because of the lifestyle offered here and the security that property in Australia brings," she said.

Belle Property Mosman agent Bo Zhang is expecting bigger numbers at open homes for two $10 million-plus properties he has on the market in the harbourside suburb this weekend and is also expecting to take on private appointments for Chinese visitors in Sydney for Golden Week.

Monika Tu of Black Diamond Property Concierge said she has 35 groups visiting from China who will be looking at properties in the eastern suburbs, Mosman, Hunters Hill and the CBD.

"Our buyers' specialist team divides the groups up by the price of the property they are looking for from those with a $4 million starting point through to those with a $25 million budget," she said.

She believed the luxury market is still buoyant.

"Investment properties are definitely suffering but for the luxury market once people get a visa and they want to settle here they have to find a home," she said.

One trophy home currently on the market is the Hunters Hill pile of Cate Blanchett.

The property, which sold for $19.8 million last year, came back on the market in August after the buyer was forced to default after experiencing problems getting their funds out of China.

While there has been a drop-off in those looking for homes in Sydney, there is still some interest in apartments.

Steep price rises in first-tier Chinese cities have continued to fuel concerns of a rapidly inflating real estate price bubble.

Mr Liu said most of his clients already held property in China and were looking to diversify their risk by looking at investments overseas. Many had already previously visited Australia and had family connections there.

"I usually take them to Melbourne or Sydney," he said. "Sightseeing is secondary, their main purpose is to view properties."