Birmingham City Council agreed last week to sell 755 of the apartments, which have been vacant for months, to a private bidder.

The new build Perry Barr estate was not completed in time for the Games in 2022, so athletes were housed in student accommodation.

Officers recommended the sale as the council’s best option but acknowledged that selling the three developed plots would result in a “significant loss to the public purse”.

It comes after England’s largest local authority declared itself effectively bankrupt last year due to a crisis largely caused by an equal pay claim bill and a failed IT system update.

The council spent £325m on the development, of which £292m was borrowed.

A cabinet report says £142m-£152m of debt will remain after the sale, which will take between £8m and £9m a year over 40 years to repay.

This puts the projected total loss upwards of £320m.

The report to cabinet said: “This will be an additional pressure to the already strained financial position of the council, and compensating savings will need to be made elsewhere in the council’s budgets.”

Birmingham City Council said 213 of the newly built homes would be retained for council housing use.