Investment into UK food stores reached £1.2B in 2016, according to Savills. The longer leases associated with the sector continue to make grocers an attractive asset to overseas investors. Middle Eastern investors have been particularly active in the sector, accounting for £180M.

London and the South East continued to be the hottest, with approximately £580M invested in 2016. London saw a 15% increase in investment as the residential angle offered by some assets has intensified investor interest.

“Overseas buyers have been a dominant investor in the market, appreciating the longer-term strengths of the food store sector," Savills investment director Katie Taylor said. "The globally recognised brands, ease of management, certainty of income and wealth preservation benefits associated with the sector continue to appeal to international buyers, and has been further boosted by the recent currency play. As income security has become a bigger concern following the EU referendum vote, we suspect we’ll start to see the institutional investors start to come back in 2017.”