UK pension schemes invest some £30bn in property [source: Purple Book 2010]. The vast majority of this is invested directly or in pooled funds which follow a "balanced" approach. This means investing in a mixture of office, retail and industrial property and aiming to meet or beat the return of other balanced portfolios. (We ignore listed property in this article as that is not held by many UK pension schemes). The reasons for this approach typically revolve around income stability, diversification from other growth assets (like equities), providing a hedge against inflation and outperforming liability growth.
