Birmingham City Council to offload £20m portfolio

100 ground rent assets in and around Birmingham city centre are set to be sold, as Birmingham City Council continues with its fire sale programme. 

The council has instructed Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH) to sell the portfolio, which consists of commercial and industrial and non-operational council-owned properties.

Assets will be sold off individually or as mini-packaged portfolios by December 2024, and have the potential to generate up to £20m.

LSH says the disposal is an “efficient way of releasing capital without impacting core operational assets” for the city. 

The council secured £1.255bn in Exceptional Financial Support (EFS) from the Government after effectively going bankrupt, and it must be paid back through £750m of asset sales.

Assets will be sold from the local authorities’ £2.4bn investment property portfolio through a programme led by commissioners that will regear the portfolio.

It’s the largest land estate of any UK local authority, extending to 26,000 acres and attracts on average £34m of revenue per year from more than 6,500 property assets and over 300 of these have historic interest.

Adam Ramshaw, head of LSH’s Birmingham office, said: “Like many local authorities across the country, Birmingham City Council is facing significant financial headwinds and urgently needs to raise funds to support frontline services. The sale of this ground rent portfolio represents an efficient way of releasing capital without impacting core operational assets.

“Representing a rare opportunity to acquire stable long-dated income, this ground rent portfolio is likely to attract strong interest from private investors, local property companies and national specialists.”