Superannuation had a strong year in 2013, with the median balanced option finishing the calendar year with a 16.3 per cent gain, SuperRatings found.
This is the best result since SuperRatings started tracking fund returns in 2000.
The results were based on growth-style assets of between 60 to 76 per cent.
Not-for-profit industry super fund REST Industry Super has come out on top, with its balances surging well above the median. Members in its core option (balanced asset allocation) achieved earnings of 19.7 per cent.
Strategic decisions such as moving to international equities and hedging the Australian dollar helped the fund outperform the others over just about every time period during the last 10 years, SuperRatings found.
The latest Chant West superannuation fund performance survey found industry funds outperformed retail funds in 2013, returning 17.4 per cent versus 16.9 per cent.
This was despite share market exposure that usually benefits master trusts.
According to SuperRatings, the median superannuation balanced option in December recorded a 1.4 per cent gain, bringing the return over the first six months of the 2013/14 financial year to 9.2 per cent.
This puts the return over the five years to 31 December 2013 at 8.7 per cent.
"With the 10-year return now sitting at 7.1 per cent per annum, funds continue to provide members invested for the long term with real rates of return at some 4 per cent above inflation over this time," SuperRatings' founder Jeff Bresnahan said.
