With better governance, many of these assets-such as outdated buildings, undeveloped land, brownfield spaces, and air rights-could generate value and a revenue stream to fund government budgets, lower taxes, or pay for vital infrastructure. According to our estimates, public commercial assets are on the same order of magnitude as annual world GDP, which the IMF put at $75 trillion in 2013, and comfortably higher than world public debt of $54 trillion. In the United Kingdom, the demand for better use of local government balance sheets is increasing, partly because of strong demand for public housing across the country. ...local councils in the United Kingdom are diving headlong into the commercial property market, borrowing at favorable government rates to purchase commercial real estate in pursuit of higher returns to fund gaps in their budgets after years of central government spending cuts. ...the UK government is now making moves to improve balance sheet management.