Alibaba, China's biggest e-commerce company, is building apartments to sell to its employees at a discount of about 40 percent, the paper.cn reports on Friday.

These 380 apartments, ranging from 87 square meters to 118 square meters, are located in Hangzhou, where the company is headquartered. Construction is expected to be finished in 2018.

Eligible employees will draw lots for the chance to buy the houses. In order to be eligible, they must have worked at the company for at least three years and be in P8 (expert) or M3 (senior manager) positions or lower. Those without apartments in Hangzhou also receive preference.

These apartments will be sold for about 10,000 yuan per square meter, whereas other properties in the area are priced between 17,000 and 20,000 yuan per square meter.

Alibaba is not the first Chinese company to contribute to staff housing. Evergrande Real East Group provides free apartments to its newly recruited staff. Hengda Group also provides apartments for its employees to live in free of charge, and gives employees discounts after a certain number of years if they decide to purchase their company housing. Huawei also guarantees affordable housing for its staff near the Shenzhen factory and headquarters.