After more than two years in negative territory, quarterly superannuation returns are climbing back towards double figures, according to the latest research released by the Heron Partnership.
The research suggests that super investors in the typical default option can expect returns of around nine to 10 per cent for the first quarter of the current financial year.
Commenting on the data, Heron Partnership managing director, Chris Butler, said the numbers were encouraging and reflected the significant improvement in equity markets, particularly Australian shares during the last six months.
“Although negative returns are expected for the typical default investment option for the September year, we anticipate it will be materially better than the year ending September 2008,” he said.
“The return for the average balanced/growth investment option included in our superannuation survey for the 12 months ending September 2008 was minus 13.6 per cent,” Butler said. “For the 12 months ending September 2009 the returns are expected to be around minus two per cent to minus four per cent.”
He said it was possible that some funds would be approaching a positive number depending on their asset mix and underlying manager construction.
Butler said that assuming there was no major downturn in equity markets for the balance of this month, Heron would expect most default options for the 12 months to the end of October to be positive.
