The Local Council Report / Capital & debt / Asset sale reliance · markdown view

Asset sale reliance

ratio · constructed · council-year

This shows what share of a council's building and infrastructure spending is paid for by selling off things it already owns, like land or buildings. It matters because selling assets is a one-off fix: once something is sold, it cannot be sold again. A high number suggests the council is leaning on sell-offs to keep investing, which is hard to sustain; a low number means it pays for projects mostly from other sources such as grants, savings, or borrowing.

councils
314
median
0.07
q1
0.03
q3
0.14
min
-0.01
max
0.78

Distribution

00.48

Worst 10

CouncilClassValueIn its class
Basingstoke & Deanedistrict0.781st worst of 163
Mole Valleydistrict0.632nd worst of 163
Bromleylondon0.521st worst of 33
Cotswolddistrict0.483rd worst of 163
Warringtonunitary0.461st worst of 63
Vale of White Horsedistrict0.454th worst of 163
South Oxfordshiredistrict0.45th worst of 163
South Norfolkdistrict0.46th worst of 163
Croydonlondon0.42nd worst of 33
Bracknell Forestunitary0.382nd worst of 63

Best 10

CouncilClassValueIn its class
Richmond upon Thameslondon-0.011st best of 33
Shropshireunitary-0.011st best of 63
Nottinghamshirecounty03rd best of 20
Blackburn with Darwenunitary05th best of 63
North East Lincolnshireunitary05th best of 63
West Berkshireunitary05th best of 63
Windsor & Maidenheadunitary05th best of 63
West Devondistrict09th best of 163
Swaledistrict09th best of 163
Tonbridge & Mallingdistrict09th best of 163

Definition

nameasset_sale_reliance
dataset02-capital-outturn-debt
kindconstructed
typenumeric
unitratio
graincouncil-year
rolefeature
sourcereceipts_used_for_financing / capital_financing_total — FIN1_finrec_amt divided by FIN1_fingrandtot_amt (both this dataset)
period2018-19 to 2024-25
missingnessunknown
score_noteGood ratio but overlaps receipts_coverage_of_capex; jargon around applied receipts.
calculatedcalculated/asset-sale-reliance.csv
calculated_rows2962
calculated_periods2018-19 to 2024-25
calculated_date2026-08-13
peer_groupdistricts (n=204), unitaries (n=65), metropolitan boroughs (n=36), London boroughs (n=33), counties (n=27) — scored within each class against its median/IQR

The share of the capital programme financed by applying capital receipts — i.e. dependence on selling assets to fund investment, including flexible-use-of-receipts pressure. High reliance suggests the council can only invest (or, under flexible use, prop up revenue transformation) by disposing of its estate. Receipts are lumpy, so trends matter more than single years; use non-HRA columns.