Borrowing
It is possible for pension schemes to borrow money to provide extra liquidity for any type of investment, including for a property purchase.
The borrowing does not have to be secured, although a high street bank is unlikely to offer an unsecured loan to a pension scheme.
up to 50% of net asset value.
A pension scheme is limited to borrowing only up to 50% of the net value of the scheme assets at the point a mortgage is taken out. Although a fall in the value of the pension fund may mean that at certain points during the lifetime of the loan this limit is exceeded, provided no additional borrowing is taken out the limit will not be judged to have been breached.
It is also possible to re-finance a mortgage, except where the terms of the new loan are substantially different, will also not trigger a test of the 50% limit.
If the 50% limit is breached (for example, where a pension scheme takes out additional borrowing) the excess is treated as a scheme chargeable payment subject to the appropriate tax charge(s).