China has two week-long holidays called "golden weeks" each year. 

The Chinese are famously hard workers, but during these two weeks, much of the country put down their tools and head for family reunions or overseas holidays. 

Official data forecasts that during the upcoming Chinese New Year holiday, which runs from 24 to 30 January, more than 7 million Chinese will travel overseas- 11 per cent more than last year.

Australia is among the places they will visit, and feedback from agents in New South Wales and Western Australia indicate that property could be on their mind when they do. 

Ken Jacobs, Managing Director of Christie's International Real Estate Sydney, said that he expects more Chinese interest this Chinese New Year, adding he is already noticing a surge in Chinese enquiry at the top end of the market. 

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While Jacobs is expecting a stronger Chinese New Year this year than in the last two years, he said visiting Chinese tend to make appointments at the last minute, which makes it challenging to arrange inspections.

Michael Pallier. Managing Director at Sydney Sotheby's International Realty, said his agency has already begun to experience the influx of visitors, having shown three high-end properties to a family from mainland China on Tuesday. 

Pallier is putting several properties on the market, especially for the holiday, with his team working hard to make sure the homes are available while the Chinese are in town.

While they usually come here during the holiday to see family or have a good time, if they are thinking of buying a property, they will do that too.

Darren Curtis, Ken Jacobs' partner at Christie's International Real Estate Sydney, said Chinese buyers have now found ways and means to get their funds out of China despite capital export controls and are back looking for homes in Australia.

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"Without a doubt, Chinese buyers will be very active during Chinese New Year," he said.

"Nearly half of our sales in the second half of 2019 went to mainland Chinese buyers and five of my six appointments last Saturday were with mainland Chinese buyers."

All three of these top agents expect Chinese buying to climb in Sydney this year, after several years of low activity.

Related: Chinese buyers in Philippines take a breather after long sprint

There is a similar sentiment among agents in Perth, with Property Consultants Australia CEO Mark Butler saying there are more Chinese buyers in the city than there were 15 months ago.

"There was an enormous influx five years ago," he said.

"Then it sort of petered off, and now it's lifting up again."

However, Butler believes Chinese New Years isn't a time for the hard sell.

He says he will limit his China-oriented marketing efforts to sending out good wishes and catching up with the families he works with to wish them a happy new year.

Aubin Hay, founder of ResiWest, also anticipates a surge in activity around this Chinese New Year, in part because the first of the direct flights from Shanghai to Perth started arriving this week.

"This new, direct air route has the tourism and development industries in Perth seeing dollar signs," he said.

"I am getting more Chinese enquiry through the display suites of the FEC project, Perth Hub, for which I am the marketing agent, than this time last year."

After the celebration is over and everyone in China is back at work, what happens next?

Our data at Juwai IQI shows that when Chinese consumers get home from their overseas holidays, their online property hunting climbs.

If you have ever gotten back from a Bali trip only to google the purchase price of villas in that island paradise, you know what they are thinking.

Many Chinese who visit Australia like it, get home and want to find out what they could afford if they were to buy a Harbour City home.

Others have already found a property they like but want to better understand the market before buying.

That is why our data shows that Chinese buyers make an average of 60 per cent more enquiries in the five weeks after Chinese New Years than in the typical week during the whole rest of the year.