Auckland Council is considering selling its main downtown office blocks for hundreds of millions of dollars and becoming a tenant.

Photo: RNZ / Tom Furley

The council has had offers of more than $200 million for its biggest building, the corporate headquarters on Albert Street, double what it paid four years ago.

A smaller building on Graham Street is thought to be worth $32.5 million.

Sale and leaseback of big council buildings was recommended late last year in two consultants' reports which argued it was a better use of council finances and removed risk.

The council faces a bill of tens of millions of dollars to repair cladding on its 25-year-old headquarters, more than it expected when it bought the building.

A report to the council's finance committee today, recommends senior executives and councillor Penny Webster explore the financial impact of a possible sale.

The Albert Street HQ is considered a prime site, located next to what may become the city's busiest underground rail station when the City Rail Link tunnel is finished in about six or seven years time.