The Chinese banking giant ICBC is facing increasing bad debts due to the real estate crisis.
By the end of June, the total bad loans rose to 38.8 billion yuan, according to the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China's (ICBC) half-year results released on Tuesday.
At the end of 2021, it was 33.8 billion yuan.
Despite the troubles, lending to the real estate sector rose 15 percent in the first half of this year.
The ICBC is not alone in its problem.
The largest bank in the world in terms of total assets is already the third major Chinese bank to report rising bad debts in the real estate sector.
The bankruptcy of property developers has led to housing projects being canceled or delayed in recent months.
Many Chinese boycotted their mortgage payments.
The construction industry is not only under pressure because of the corona pandemic.
The government has intensified its campaign against speculators - also out of concern about a real estate bubble.
In addition, the crisis surrounding the ailing real estate giant Evergrande has scared off many potential home buyers.
To counteract this, more than 80 cities have taken measures to boost demand since the beginning of the year.
These include subsidies, lower mortgage rates and lower down payments.
However, the prospects for the real estate market remain rather bleak due to recurring lockdowns.
The technology center in Shenzhen, for example, is currently affected by the measures taken to combat the spread of the corona virus.
ICBC increased its profits in the first six months of this year despite growing problems with bad housing loans.
It grew 4.9 percent year-on-year to 171.5 billion yuan, the bank said.