'I'm not familiar with the stock market. I am always travelling, and so I don't have time to handle stock investments. The outbreak of the global financial crisis also showed that the stock market is risky,' she said.

'Property investment is more conservative.'

Mainlanders seeking to qualify under the scheme have so far spent a total of HK$7.51 billion in buying properties.

Like many of them, Ms Li found the housing estates above Kowloon Station attractive.

She said the area was highly accessible to transport links and would be even better served by the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link, now under construction.

She added that she was attracted to the comfortable living environment and the view and the proximity to the landmark International Commerce Centre office building.

But she has a 'Plan B' if she fails to expand her business in Hong Kong: 'Then I will lease my unit. I've investigated the residential leasing market in the area. The rents are high.'

Mainlanders such as Ms Li have become the new targets of developers in recent years. But their investment in real estate has so far been much less than their investments in financial markets.

By the end of March, the Immigration Department had granted 2,683 Chinese nationals permanent residence and Hong Kong identity cards under the scheme, which was launched in October 2003.

However, only 28 per cent of the total qualifying investments were made in real estate.

Eddie Kwan King-hung, managing director of Eddie Kwan Immigration Consulting Services, said more people had begun investing in property since the outbreak of the global financial crisis.

'In the last two quarters, about 40 per cent of our clients invested in the property market, as they began to appreciate that property was a less risky investment after the financial crisis,' he said.

Mr Kwan's industry may be one of the few businesses that could be said to have benefited from the outbreak of the financial crisis. He said his firm once received 50 to 60 applications a month under the residency scheme, but between the last quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of this year, it had received more than 100 applications every month.

'The sharp fall in property and stock prices after the crisis attracted mainland applicants to invest in Hong Kong. But the number of applicants returned to normal levels in the last two months, because prices have rebounded significantly.'

The main beneficiary of the increase in demand was the property market in Kowloon. Nine out of 10 applicants bought flats in Kowloon, particularly in Kowloon Station, said Mr Kwan, who believed this was because the area was near Tsim Sha Tsui, one of the shopping destinations popular with mainlanders.

Thomas Kut On, the chief executive at Midland Immigration Consultancy, a subsidiary of Midland Realty, said new residential projects were highly rated by mainland buyers.

Property agents said about 10 per cent of buyers at the Cullinan held Chinese passports, while a further 20 per cent held Hong Kong identity cards with Putonghua phonetic transcriptions. The project was launched in February.

'It is [quite] exceptional [that the Cullinan attracted] a high proportion of mainland buyers,' said Shih Wing-ching, chairman of Centaline Holdings. Rival new projects did not have so many mainland buyers, he said.

Whereas mainland buyers comprised less than 10 per cent of purchasers in the overall property market, they were responsible for about 20 per cent of HK$50 million plus deals in the luxury residential market, he estimated.

Mr Shih said the influx of mainland buyers was mainly because mainland banks had relaxed loan conditions earlier this year. But he warned that this policy could be reversed at any time.

'We will not see the number of mainland buyers increase sharply in the short term, owing to the political barrier and exchange controls on the mainland,' he said.

'Real demand for Hong Kong property by Chinese nationals will only be truly reflected once these obstacles have been removed.'