The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is to put 12 sites on the market so they can be sold to make space for housing.
It is the first tranche in a major divestment of land by the MOD, which will eventually see a third of its estate sold off.
While the initial sales will create space for 15,000 homes, the eventual figure will be 55,000 when all the sales are completed.
Holding around 452,000 acres - around one per cent of the land in the UK - the MOD is one of Britain's biggest property owners in terms of area.
Defence minister Mark Lancaster said details of the full list of plots to be sold off would be made public later this year.
He told the House of Commons: "Every acre that we can free up will ensure more people have the opportunity to own their own home."
Among the properties to be sold are the RAF bases at Molesworth and Alconbury in Cambridgeshire, and Mildenhall in Suffolk.
