Council staff have been reviewing the council's $804 million property portfolio since last March, looking for spare pieces of land - and some buildings - that could be surplus to requirements and able to be sold.
The review has so far identified about $64 million of council-owned land and buildings that could be candidates for sale, but further investigation was needed, council city property manager Robert Clark said.
Once the list was fine-tuned, it was expected land worth "several million dollars" could eventually be deemed suitable for sale, he said.
It would be up to councillors to decide whether to proceed with any sales, and how any money raised should be used.
The review was expected to be completed by March, with a report then to be presented to the council's finance, strategy and development committee.
He declined to say which properties could yet be identified for sale, but confirmed parks and reserves in use had been ruled out.
The progress comes days after Cr Syd Brown, chairman of the committee to receive the report, called for a review of council capital spending to save money and ease pressure on rates.
Asked about the review, Cr Brown said he was excited by the potential for additional savings, which could be reinvested to generate additional funds and help offset rates.
The property division was already required to deliver a dividend to the council to offset rates.
The sum received had grown from about $2 million annually about five years ago to a forecast $3.8 million in 2011-12, as the council had invested in higher-return properties, he said.
"The opportunity [of the review] is to try and grow that, so that in the ensuing years we can get a greater return on the money invested," Cr Brown said.
Mr Clark said the review did not include council subsidiaries, such as Dunedin Venues Management Ltd and the Forsyth Barr Stadium, but encompassed all other areas of the council's property portfolio.
That included buildings, parks and reserves and land acquired for council operations, such as wastewater services or roading, but not roads themselves, he said.
Most sales were expected to involve parcels of land left over after larger blocks had been acquired for projects such as roading.
"It will be small pieces of land that are surplus, that have been acquired as part of a larger piece of land ... and they're no longer needed.
"Or it will be a piece of land that's been acquired a number of years ago and it's been decided, because plans have changed, that we don't need it anymore."
Some buildings could also be candidates, where they were offering smaller returns than desired "or we perceive the money would be better invested elsewhere".
The review was instigated by Mr Clark months after his arrival as city property manager, and approved by the council's executive management team.
"I just think that it's something that hasn't been looked at for a long time, and there will be opportunities to dispose of assets which we don't need."
