Industry super funds regain ascendancy

Industry superannuation funds regained their ascendancy over retail master trusts in the closing months of last year on the back of their higher allocations to unlisted property, according to the latest data from Chant West.

Chant West principal Warren Chant said the industry funds had returned 4.9 per cent in the year to December compared to 4.3 per cent for the retail master trusts, meaning they had outperformed for six out of the past 10 years.

However, the Chant West data also revealed that while Australian superannuation funds recovered well through 2010, they still needed to gain a further 8 per cent in returns to regain their pre-global financial crisis (GFC) levels.

Chant said the median growth fund had returned a relatively modest 4.7 per cent in what he described as a topsy-turvy 2010, which saw a negative 2.2 per cent median return from January to the end of June followed by a healthy 7.3 per cent for the closing six months of the year.

"While funds have recovered well from the depths of end-February 2009, it's still sobering to think they need a further 8 per cent from here to regain the level they were at in late October 2007 before the GFC," he said.

Chant West nominated the top performing growth funds for last calendar year as being Health Super MT Growth (8.4 per cent), CBA OSF Mix 70 (7.8 per cent), Maritime Super Balanced (7 per cent), Auscoal Growth (6.8 per cent), NGS Super Diversified (6.6 per cent), Vision Super Balanced Growth (6.5 per cent), Telstra Super Balanced (6.3 per cent), BT Multi-Manager Balanced (6.3 per cent), Hostplus Balanced (6.2 per cent) and CareSuper Balanced (6.2 per cent).