Christchurch City Council has built up three times as much debt per ratepayer, as the national average.

The figure is in a Taxpayer's Union report, which shows Christchurch is the third most indebted local authority behind Auckland Council and Waitomo District Council.

Executive Director Jordan Williams said the situation is understandable, but it's still a concern.

"Christchurch faces some pretty unique challenges post quake. The problem with Christchurch though is that even though it carries very high debt, its value of assets isn't actually comparatively high."