The Morningstar Australian Superannuation Survey showed results for individual super funds ranged from a low of 0.4 per cent to a high of 2.6 per cent.
Growth assets mostly produced positive results in July, with Australian listed property up five per cent, Australian shares up 4.4 per cent and global listed property up 0.6 per cent.
International shares, however, fell 0.2 per cent during the month.
The average allocation to equities among the multi-sector growth super funds was 56.7 per cent, with 29.7 per cent in Australian equities and 27 per cent in global.
The average exposure to property was 7.9 per cent while defensive assets on average accounted for 23.3 per cent.
The survey showed the best performing growth super funds in the year to 31 July were Legg Mason Growth at 16.1 per cent, followed by Legg Mason Balanced at 13.5 per cent and Maple-Brown Abbott at 12.9 per cent.
The strongest performing balanced super funds in the year to 31 July were BT Balanced, at 10.2 per cent, followed by Energy Super Capital Managed at 9.8 per cent and AMP Moderate Growth at 9.1 per cent.
The annualised median return for the 12 months to 31 July was 10.8 per cent.
Longer-term annualised median returns were 10.8 per cent for three years, 9.1 per cent for five years and 6.8 per cent for ten years.
Morningstar also published the results of its Australian Institutional Sector Survey yesterday, which showed the median Australian share fund manager underperformed the index by 0.2 per cent in July, generating a return of 4.2 per cent.
Longer-term annualised returns were 17.2 per cent for the 12 months to 31 July, 14.5 per cent over three years and 11.1 per cent over five years.
The best performing Australian share strategies in the 12 months to 31 July were Allan Gray, with a return of 27.4 per cent, followed by Millennium at 24.7 per cent and Bernstein Value at 23.3 per cent.
International fund managers generated an average return of 12.6 per cent over the year and 18.3 per cent over three years.
The best performing international share funds were Platinum with an 18.5 per cent return, followed by Orbis at 17.5 percent, and Bernstein Strategic at 16.1 percent.
