Sunderland Council Tax 2026

How to read this stock pattern

Band D is a poor description of the largest group in Sunderland's housing stock. The dominant group is Band A, where the statutory charge is two-thirds of the Band D rate, while the reference band describes a different part of the valuation list. The £1,685.90 stock-weighted figure is therefore the more representative area-level comparison. It does not predict an individual bill, because discounts, exemptions and the property's actual valuation band still determine liability.

The distribution is unusually concentrated: one band alone contains 59.6% of all published dwellings. That gives the modal-band comparison real descriptive weight and makes the gap between its charge and Band D easier to interpret. It also means the statutory charge shown for that band applies to the largest share of the local stock before discounts or exemptions. The table remains necessary because the other 7 bands describe the minority of properties that the headline cannot represent.

Sunderland forms the lower edge of the North East peer set after each authority's housing mix is taken into account. Its position is therefore not just a low Band D headline: the weighted average remains lowest across the region's published stock profiles. The ranking is an area comparison, not a promise about a particular address, and the band table below retains the within-council variation that the rank compresses.

Closest housing-stock shape: Burnley

Burnley is an exceptionally close stock-shape match for Sunderland: moving 2.1% of dwellings between valuation bands would make the two published distributions align. That is a stricter comparison than sharing a modal band, because all published bands contribute to the distance.

Four largest band differences

• The largest separation sits at lower Band C, where Burnley holds 15.2% of its stock and Sunderland holds 13.7%. The peer is more bottom-weighted at this rung of the valuation list.
• A smaller distinction is lower on the ladder at Band B: Sunderland has 14.9% of dwellings there, against 13.6% in Burnley. That extra lower-band weight pulls its stock profile away from the peer.
• A smaller distinction falls on the reference band itself. Band D contains 7.5% of Sunderland's stock but 7.1% of Burnley's, so the national headline describes more of the local distribution here.
• A smaller distinction is an upper-band difference at Band E. Burnley records 3.2% of dwellings there, compared with 2.8% in Sunderland, so the peer carries more of its stock at that higher rung.

How the wider profile compares

Show every band direction

• Band A is closely balanced
• Band B leans toward Sunderland
• Band C leans toward Burnley
• Band D is closely balanced
• Band E is closely balanced
• Band F is closely balanced
• Band G is closely balanced
• Band H is closely balanced

This sequence is read from the lowest published band to the highest.

Other close England matches for Sunderland: Hyndburn (2.5% redistribution distance); South Tyneside (3.2% redistribution distance); Gateshead (3.2% redistribution distance); Bolsover (3.4% redistribution distance). Ranked across every published band in the England valuation system, this shortlist shows whether Burnley stands alone or sits in a cluster of similarly shaped authorities.