Tougher lending criteria has put a brake on Chinese demand for Australian property, but Melbourne agents still expect to clock up millions in sales following one of the biggest weeks in the year for foreign buyers.

As Melburnians turn their eyes from real estate and towards the MCG, Chinese buyers will be flocking to the city and shown some of its best homes.

China’s Golden Week is a lucrative sales season for many agents, who hope to ink several million-dollar contracts over the week-long national holiday from Saturday.

Prospective buyers will be chauffeured around choice suburbs including Balwyn, Glen Waverley and Toorak, while agents wine and dine them to build rapport.

There are just 40 auctions listed for Saturday in Melbourne. Jellis Craig Balwyn’s William Chen said he expected several groups would fly in with their family to inspect properties.

Ray White Balwyn director Helen Yan expects less activity this Golden Week compared with last year, largely due to banks’ tightened criteria for home loans to foreigners. Biggin and Scott Glen Waverley’s Ming Xu said a Chinese investor-visa holder paid nearly $1 million in cash for a Glen Waverley property a fortnight ago.

Most buyers could comfortably purchase a home between $1 million and $1.5 million and would only need a small percentage loan, he said.

But Arron Liu, a real estate promoter who organises “property tourism” packages in Australia for prospective Chinese buyers, says business has declined in recent months due to the tougher restrictionsfrom Australia’s big four banks.

“Last year, we organised about three trips a month of about five or six people each time,” Mr Liu, who divides his time mostly between Shanghai and Melbourne, said. “Now we only have a few people [interested] but we have yet to have enough to form a group.”

Steep price rises in first-tier Chinese cities have continued to fuel concerns of a rapidly inflating real estate price bubble. “I usually take them to Melbourne or Sydney,” he said. “Sightseeing is secondary, their main purpose is to view properties.”

Jean Low and husband Eng Tan are auctioning their home of 12 years at 6 Belford Avenue in Kew East. It is expected to be viewed by prospective buyers during Golden Week. A temporary resident is allowed to buy an established house to live in with foreign investment approval.

Dr Low believed her four-bedroom house would appeal to Chinese buyers because it was low-maintenace, renovated and close to schools.

“When they choose their property, it has to do with their children’s eduction,” said the general practitioner, who is expecting more than $1.65 million for the home. “A lot of the parents – if they’re renting or buying – they want to know which zone the property is in – ours is in Kew High.”

Marshall White director Marcus Chiminello said most of their high net worth individuals clients already had established business ventures or property in Australia, so there were not many challenges in terms of their financial capacity. His agency had arranged for a driver to chauffeur prospective buyers, who would be shown properties on and off-market from $10 million-plus, and private dinners for local and international clients.

Among the properties to be shown across Melbourne are the never-lived-in mansion of Daniel and Danielle Besen in Towers Road, Toorak and another nearby in Kooyong Road.