Funds flowing from banks will allow developers to repay offshore loans and dollar bonds, helping to repair global investors' bruised confidence, two of the sources said.
Each of the four banks, Bank of China (601988.SS), China Construction Bank (601939.SS), Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (601398.SS) and Agricultural Bank of China (601288.SS), will pick several developers to fund, the three sources said.
The third source said that, while the big four banks preferred fresh lending to go to state-backed developers, they would have to include some private firms, which have a greater need for offshore loans.
Chinese banks make offshore loans secured against domestic assets to companies that need foreign funds, but regulatory tightening in the last couple of years to rein in debt-fuelled empire-building by corporates hampered that kind of lending.
China's central bank will also offer cheap loans to financial firms to buy bonds issued by property developers, separate sources have told Reuters.