With investment inflows coming apace to Malaysia from mainland China, Singapore is no longer the biggest source of real estate capital for its immediate neighbour.

In terms of transactions valued at least USD10 million, the Chinese funnelled USD2.1 billion to Malaysia's property sector between 2014 and 2016, Financial Times reported, citing data from Real Capital Analytics. Singaporeans, in comparison, poured only USD985 million over the past three years.

China's buoyant investments come amid eased political relations between the ASEAN nation and Beijing; soaring domestic prices in Hong Kong; and surcharges against non-resident buyers in Australia, the nearest Western destination for Chinese capital flight.

"The Chinese investor today has a lot more options and has become more comfortable going to Europe and the US, but not everyone has the same options - Malaysia is much more affordable" Sigrid Zialcita, managing director of research at Cushman & Wakefield Asia Pacific, told FT. "If you compare prices, even between Malaysia and China, you are looking at a significant difference.”

China and Japan are the biggest joiners of the government's permanent residency scheme, Malaysia My Second Home program. Around 8,000 of the 32,000 successful applicants of the program between 2002 to 2016 were Chinese nationals.

Mainland China was the world's biggest outbound investor of 2016, pouring USD33 billion in overseas residential, commercial and industrial real estate, reported Jones Lang LaSalle. The US received the bulk of investments, followed by Hong Kong, Malaysia, Australia, and the UK.