After a tumultuous 12 months for superannuation, investors are looking to the 2017 financial year with fresh hope. Australian shares underwent a post-Brexit rally in July, which kicked in with full force, delivering a median balanced option return of 2.7%, according to SuperRatings data.
Given the strength of markets in July, the 12-month returns continue to show strong performance, with the top 10 funds returning between 4.6% and 7.0% for period. The following table shows the top 10 Balanced Options for the 12-months to 31 July 2016:
| Superannuation Fund | Return for the 12-months to 31 July |
| BUSSQ Premium Choice – Balanced Growth | 7.0% |
| Catholic Super – Balanced | 6.4% |
| UniSuper Accumulation (1) – Balanced | 6.1% |
| MTAA Super – MyAuto Super | 5.9% |
| Cbus – Growth | 5.9% |
| HOSTPLUS – Balanced | 5.6% |
| REI Super – Balanced | 5.5% |
| Energy Super – Balanced | 5.3% |
| AMIST Super – Balanced | 4.9% |
| CareSuper – Balanced | 4.6% |
“The returns for the month of July clearly demonstrate the varying asset allocations between super funds across both sectors of the industry”, said Mr Bresnahan. “With strong equity markets dominating performance in July, the retail funds, who generally maintain higher allocations to listed assets, have performed strongly”. “Over the rolling 12-month period, however, the strength of the performance of not for profit funds is evident, with all of the top 10 funds coming from this sector of the market, resulting from greater allocations to unlisted assets as equities remained volatile over the year.”
