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The pioneering councils will trial one of the new brownfield registers, providing house builders with up-to-date and publicly available information on all sites available for housing locally.
Each council agreeing to take part will receive £10,000 of government funding to help establish the registers.
The initiative helps house builders identify suitable sites quickly, speeding up the construction of new homes.
They also allow communities to draw attention to local sites for listing, including in some cases derelict buildings and eyesores that are primed for redevelopment and that could attract investment to the area.
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Communities Secretary Greg Clark said: "A key part of our ambition to build 1 million homes is to get work started on brownfield sites across the country – many of which are currently nothing more than blight on a community’s landscape.
"These councils will be at the forefront of these efforts to list land and encourage builders to deliver new homes for aspiring homeowners.
"But this is just the first step and I would urge councils to continue to offer up brownfield sites to deliver the homes their residents want and need."
Housing Minister Brandon Lewis added: "By getting the first councils going in piloting a register of brownfield land for housing we have the first wave of areas pushing for more homes on suitable brownfield land, including affordable housing."
The 15 councils with the most brownfield land taking part in the brownfield register pilot project are:
• Cherwell
• County Durham
• Huntingdonshire
• Leeds
• Liverpool
• Manchester
• Medway
• Newcastle upon Tyne
• Peterborough
• Selby
• Sheffield
• South Cambridgeshire
• Sunderland
• Tonbridge and Malling
• Wigan
Councils taking part in the brownfield pilots will inform future government policy and guidance on the operation of the brownfield registers.
Registers will eventually become mandatory for all councils under proposals going through Parliament in the Housing and Planning Bill.
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