Could deflation lead to rent increases?

Inflation has generally been considered a positive for real estate as prices and rents tend to rise and one might therefore conclude that deflation would be a negative.

However, following yesterday's inflation report, Retail Economics posted an update which suggested that deflation would allow retailers to rebuild margins as the costs of goods fall.

If that is correct, could those improved margins also allow more scope for rent increases?

That sounds counter-intuitive - what do you think?