Morningstar has published interim results of the Morningstar® Australian Superannuation Survey, providing comprehensive coverage of the performance of Australian-offered retirement savings vehicles to 30 November 2012.
The Survey includes both commercial for-profit and industry superannuation options. Morningstar classifies funds according to a proprietary classification system created to facilitate meaningful peer-relative comparisons.
Key Findings
- November proved to be relatively flat for Australian superannuation funds as the majority managed to tip-toe into positive territory over the month. The median fund in the Multisector Growth category (60.0 – 80.0 percent growth assets) recorded an 0.6 percent gain over the month to 30 November 2012. The calendar year to date return for the median fund is 12.5 percent.
- Within the Multisector Growth category, the median manager returned 0.6 percent over the month of November, individual results falling between a low of -0.2 percent and a high of 1.1 percent. Longer-term annualised results for the median fund were 11.1 percent over one year, 5.0 percent over three years, -0.1 percent over five years, and 5.8 percent over the 10 years to 30 November 2012.
- Growth assets provided restrained results over the month of November 2012. Australian shares, as measured by the S&P/ASX300 Accumulation Index, rose 0.4 percent, international shares gained 0.7 percent, and global property securities 1.0 percent. Australian property securities lost ground with a return of -1.3 percent over the same period. Results for defensive assets over the month were also muted, global fixed income returning 0.7 percent, cash 0.3 percent, and Australian fixed income 0.01 percent.
- The best-performing Growth superfunds over the three years to 30 November were REST Super Core Strategy (7.2 percent), followed by AustralianSuper Conservative Balanced (7.0 percent), Schroder (6.1 percent), and REST Super Diversified and Perpetual Balanced Growth both (5.8 percent). Over the five years to 30 November, Schroder (3.5 percent), followed by REST Super Core (3.4 percent) and AustralianSuper Conservative Balanced (2.5 percent) were the best performers.
- Among the options in the Multisector Balanced category (40.0 – 60.0 percent growth assets), the best performers over the three years to 30 November 2012 were AustralianSuper Stable (6.8 percent), followed by REST Super Balanced (6.1 percent), and Asgard Moderate Growth (6.0 percent).