Nine out of the 10 top-performing funds are not-for-profit funds, according to the latest survey results from research firm Chant West.

Mercer was the only retail fund in Chant West's performance table.

However, people must be aware that the strong performance of the not-for-profit funds is because of greater exposure to unlisted assets, according to Chant West principal Warren Chant.

Industry funds have a strategic allocation to unlisted assets of about 25 per cent versus 7 per cent for master trusts, which place a greater premium on liquidity, Chant said.

"In assessing funds, members need to clearly understand there is a key difference between the two groups.

"They should also be aware of the associated risks of not being able to access your money when you need to, versus the risk of earning lower long-term returns," he said.

Commercial funds, however, dominated the medium-sized corporate plan category.

In this category, the four commercial master trusts; AMP Signature, Mercer, Plum and Russell were in the top six funds.

AustralianSuper and Sunsuper were the only industry funds in the group.

"Individuals are price takers, but in the medium-sized corporate market companies have more bargaining power. As a result, they can generally negotiate competitive fees with master trusts that compare favourably with not-for-profit funds," Chant said.

Only six funds were represented in this section because the universe of funds is smaller, according to Chant West.