Royal Bank of Scotland has found a buyer for an £800m ($1.7bn, €1.1bn) portfolio of 63 properties. The price is about 10 per cent lower than originally expected but indicates that real estate deals are possible in spite of the credit squeeze.

At the same time, an investment group run by Hugh Osmond is set to spend £1.4bn on a portfolio of European properties owned by Santander, the Spanish bank.