The UK pension industry is facing a deficit crisis caused by an aging population and low bond yields. In January, AON Consulting estimated 200 firms had shortfalls of about euro 53 billion ($64 billion). Sale and leasebacks have become a viable means of plugging this because of strong demand for real estate and low interest rates. The potential in sale-and-leaseback deals is considerable, Close Brothers says. The country's top 200 listed companies have freehold property assets with a net book value well above euro 145 billion ($174.59 billion).

The potential in property is underscored by new figures out this week from Investment Property Databank (IPD). This showed UK commercial property returns rose by 1.4% in February and by 19.4% over 12 months.

Performance by commercial bricks-and-mortar compared with returns in equities was up 1.2% and up just 0.1% in bonds, IPD says. Returns are based on a mix of capital growth and income. Property delivered capital growth of 1%, compared to 0.9% capital growth for equities and a fall of 1.6% for bonds, the IPD report adds.

Within individual sectors, offices delivered the highest returns, up 1.6%, ahead of retail, at up 1.4%, and industrial properties, up 1.2%.