Another year of negative super returns

Despite three months of positive returns, there is now no way Australian superannuation fund members can avoid a second consecutive year of negative returns, according to the latest data published by Chant West.

The data revealed that while the median superannuation growth fund returned 1.3 per cent for the month of May following positive returns in both March and April, this was not enough to overcome eight months of deeply negative data.

According to Chant West, in year-to-date terms, the median growth fund is likely to return minus 13.5 per cent for the 11 months of the financial year to date, which means it is now certain that most growth funds will post losses in the double digits for the 2008-09 financial year.

And contrary to the assertions of some asset consultants, the revaluation of unlisted assets is continuing to weigh down industry funds.

Chant West revealed that for the third consecutive month, the median master trust outperformed the median industry fund, something it attributed to the downward valuation of unlisted assets coupled with the strong performance of listed markets.

It said while industry funds would still finish the year ahead of master trusts, it was anticipated that further downward valuations would take place in unlisted markets, which would have a greater impact on industry fund returns and narrow the performance gap.