According to Juwai, an online Chinese real estate portal, Mainland Chinese commercial and residential property investment is expected to increase 3 to 8 percent this year from a year ago.

Mainland Chinese buyers are not to blame for real estate price surges in major cities, and being more visible than domestic players was just their "bad luck", said Juwai CEO Carrie Law.

Policymakers may shift their resistance to mainland Chinese real estate investment when they decide they need more investment, Law said.

There are concerns among some that mainlanders' demand could drive property prices up too much for domestic home buyers. A large Chinese population may also impact local issues.

Seemingly unperturbed by resistance, Mainland Chinese buyers are expected to increase their appetite for overseas real estate this year

Malaysia's newly elected government has injected uncertainty into projects and private residential projects viewed to be aimed at foreigners, a large number of whom are from mainland China. As New Zealand's government attempts to improve the affordability of residential property, the nation has also banned many foreigners from buying existing homes.

Mainland Chinese residential and commercial international property purchases in 2017 reached a new record of $119.7 billion, up 18.1 percent from the $101.4 billion in 2016, according to an annual report from Juwai.

"The markets where concern about foreign buyers (have) been greatest are those with a combination of factors, usually including high population growth, constraints that limit the construction of new housing, cheap and available mortgage credit, and rapid price gains," said Carrie Law, CEO and director of Juwai.