An increasing number of mainland banks have entered the ranks of bulk property sales, including large state-owned banks, joint-stock banks, city commercial banks, and the agricultural credit cooperative systems of various provinces and cities. The root cause of this phenomenon is the banks selling off assets seized from companies or individuals to realize cash.
From October 29th to 30th, nearly 200 real estate properties under Lanzhou Rural Commercial Bank Co., Ltd. (Lanzhou Rural Commercial Bank) were listed for competitive auction on the Jingdong Asset Platform, with prices ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of millions of Chinese Yuan, covering residential, commercial, and office properties.
According to a report by the Economic Observer on November 7th, a source from Lanzhou Rural Commercial Bank revealed that most of these properties are assets seized for debt repayment, currently registered under the bank’s name, and are being sold directly by the bank with existing property rights issues and debt disputes already resolved.
Among the nearly 200 real estate properties listed for sale by Lanzhou Rural Commercial Bank, 156 are located in the Yucai Yipin Community in the Shen-Fu New District of Liaoning, with starting prices below 200,000 Yuan, and the lowest starting price being around 80,000 Yuan. The Jingdong Asset Platform shows that Lanzhou Rural Commercial Bank has a total of 720 listed property assets, with additional residential and commercial properties in Jingyuan Yuehai Bay in Chengmai, Hainan.
Furthermore, the Jingdong Asset Platform indicates that Lanzhou Bank Co., Ltd. (Lanzhou Bank) listed 1,130 real estate properties for direct sale in 2024 and 1,779 properties in 2025.
Not only Lanzhou Rural Commercial Bank but also Agricultural Bank, Construction Bank, Bank of Communications, Lanzhou Bank, Jilin Rural Commercial Bank, and many other banks have started to engage in direct property sales business. Since 2025, Agricultural Bank has listed a total of 649 real estate properties for direct sale; Jilin Bank has 2,099 properties for sale, Tianjin Bank has 1,227, Zhongyuan Bank has 521, Wenzhou Bank has 412, Dalian Bank has 226, and Harbin Bank has 159.
The report states that compared to large banks and joint-stock banks selling properties directly, city commercial banks, rural commercial banks, and agricultural credit cooperatives have a larger scale of property listings. According to incomplete statistics, since August 2024, Guangdong Agricultural Credit System has listed 12,386 real estate properties for sale on Alibaba Asset and JD Asset platforms; since November 2024, Sichuan Agricultural Credit System has listed 24,821 properties for sale; Liaoning Agricultural Credit System has a total of 11,369 listed properties; Guizhou Agricultural Credit System has 9,539; Jilin Agricultural Credit System has 2,374; and Fujian Agricultural Credit System has 623.
A source from a joint-stock bank told the media that commercial banks traditionally deal with non-performing loans in two main ways: by selling the loans directly, individually, or packaged at a lower discount to third parties; or through judicial auctions, realizing cash by auctioning off mortgaged or pledged assets. Although the traditional methods may have lower recovery rates, they can quickly liquidate assets. Compared to traditional methods, direct sale of mortgaged properties by commercial banks can maximize the recovery rate.
As for the sources of these properties being sold directly by banks, the source from the joint-stock bank mentioned that most of these properties are assets mortgaged for loans by companies or individuals, ranging from various scales of businesses to individual operators, and some are collateral for personal loans or mortgages. Due to borrowers’ inability to repay the loans, non-performing loans were generated. After the banks separate the loans, clear property rights are obtained, and debt recovery is achieved through property sales. However, in the current market environment, dealing with non-performing loans is challenging, with higher discount rates and relatively lower debt recovery rates.
In comparison to market prices, the prices of bank-sold properties are generally lower. A source from a South China City Commercial Bank told the media that regardless of how commercial banks dispose of bad debts or sell properties directly, the ultimate goal is to realize cash. If bank-sold properties fail to sell in the first auction, the price is usually reduced for the second listing, thus these properties are generally priced below market transaction prices. However, due to the short period of these properties being listed on the market and limited market awareness, transactions are generally slower.