The 2015 pension freedoms are best known for letting people draw their pension flexibly — but they also quietly revived a niche structure that buys property. SSAS and SIPP schemes, used by business owners to hold commercial premises inside their pension, saw a renaissance. It is a smaller story than buy-to-let, but a real one, and GalimAI maps the property-owning vehicles it helped grow.
What GalimAI’s own data reveals
Property held through a pension is still property held through a structure — and structures are GalimAI’s domain. Among the 463,022 property-owning companies and the owners we map are the business owners who use SSAS and SIPP arrangements to hold their commercial premises, often as part of family and succession planning. We link the property to the people and the financing behind it.
For an investor, that is useful texture. Pension-held commercial property tends to be owner-occupied by a trading business, which changes the sourcing conversation entirely — and GalimAI’s map of active owners helps tell pension-held stock apart from speculative holdings.
What changed: pension freedoms, in plain terms
The 2015 pension freedoms gave savers far more control over defined-contribution pensions — including how benefits pass on death. A side effect was a revival of the SSAS (small self-administered scheme) and continued use of the SIPP (self-invested personal pension), both of which can buy commercial property and hold it tax-efficiently inside the pension.
Advisers reported a marked uptick: in one survey, 78% believed the new death-benefit rules would increase SSAS use, and providers noted a significant rise in SSAS business. For many small businesses, the natural use is to buy the very premises the company trades from — indeed, the majority of SSASs own their trading property.
The public backdrop
| Indicator | Figure | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Reform | 2015 pension freedoms | Flexible DC pensions; death-benefit changes |
| Adviser view | 78% expected more SSAS use | Driven by IHT/death-benefit rules |
| Typical use | Buy the trading premises | Commercial property inside the pension |
| SSAS property | Majority own their premises | Owner-occupied commercial |
A retirement reform nudged more commercial property into pension structures. GalimAI’s map is where those property-owning vehicles — and the people behind them — are identifiable.
The most plausible mechanism
The channel is tax efficiency and control. Holding commercial property in a SSAS or SIPP keeps rental income and gains inside the pension wrapper and, after 2015, improved how value passes on death — making the structure more attractive to business owners. The adviser-reported uptick fits that logic. We frame this as a clear, well-evidenced shift rather than a precisely quantified one, since comprehensive public figures on pension-held property volumes are limited.
Sources
The proprietary figures in this study (the 463,022 companies, 1,000,000+ owners and the distress signals) are GalimAI first-party data. The public background figures are drawn from:
- Pension freedoms drive growth in SSAS - Actuarial Post
- Using a SIPP or SSAS to buy commercial property - Dentons Pensions
Frequently asked questions
How did pension freedoms affect property?
The 2015 reforms revived the SSAS and supported continued use of the SIPP - pension structures that can buy and hold commercial property tax-efficiently. Advisers reported a marked rise in SSAS business, often used by business owners to buy their own trading premises.
Why do business owners buy property in a pension?
It keeps rental income and gains inside the pension wrapper and, after the 2015 death-benefit changes, improved how value passes on death - so holding the trading premises in a SSAS or SIPP became more attractive.
What does GalimAI's data show?
GalimAI maps 463,022 property-owning companies and the structures behind them, including owner-occupied commercial property held through pensions - linked to the people and financing behind each.
How reliable are the figures?
This study is directional. The 2015 reforms and the SSAS revival are well evidenced, but comprehensive public data on the volume of pension-held property is limited, so we frame it as a clear shift rather than a precise number.