A record number of UK supermarkets were bought and sold in 2023, with some of the most notable deals including the sale and lease back of several Asda and Morrisons stores.

According to data from real estate consultancy Knight Frank, food stores worth £2.49bn were purchased in the UK in 2023, The Times reported.

This figure is 71% above the ten-year average of £1.4bn and is three times higher than in 2022.

Many supermarkets with mounting debt piles have been selling stores to raise additional funds, including grocery giant Asda which was bought by the billionaire Issa brothers and TDR Capital in 2021.

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In July, Asda sold and leased back 25 stores to American property investor Realty Income Corporation for £650m.

A month later, Mohsin and Zuber Issa were said to be in talks to sell ground rent leases linked with 50 Asda stores to an Australian finance house in a deal estimated to be worth around £500m.

Realty Income also owns a portion of Morrisons supermarket stores, which it bought for £175m.

Knight Frank retail chartered surveyor Josh Roberts said: “While commercial property volumes look set to decline by around 50% overall in 2023, retail property investment has been resilient, buoyed by a record year for food stores.

“This is driven by a flight to safety, with supermarkets offering some of the strongest covenants available on long, inflation-linked leases and a significant increase in sale-and-leaseback transactions.”