Gao Xiang and his colleagues never pictured coal as a black cloud billowing from smokestacks or a sooty remnant of the Industrial Revolution.

China Construction Bank announced on Tuesday it has set up a 30 billion yuan ($4.14 billion) fund to finance rental housing amid China's efforts to develop its rental housing market, liquidize remnant assets of real estate companies and defuse financial risks in the housing sector.

The bank said by setting up the fund, it will deepen the advancement of its house rental strategy, invest in remnant assets of real estate developers through market-oriented, law-based and professional operations, and strengthen coordination with all parties concerned to increase the supply of long-term and affordable rental homes under a market-based approach.

Tian Guoli, chairman of CCB, said on Tuesday the bank will leverage more social capital to participate in real estate projects, solve the problem with the lack of adequate long-term capital investment in rental housing, help liquidize remnant assets in the housing sector to reduce inventories and lower debt-to-asset ratios, and explore a new pattern of real estate development that focuses on both home purchases and rental.

"By liquidizing remnant assets, these companies reduced around 20 percent of financing through traditional approaches and saved a total of 500 million yuan in interest (payments)," Zhang said.