The superannuation research and consultancy firm said Australian and global real estate investment trusts (REITS) returned 5.6 per cent and 3.9 per cent respectively over April.
According to Chant West, listed assets generally performed well, with Australian shares up 1.7 per cent while international shares gained 0.7 per cent on a fully hedged basis, and one per cent unhedged.
Chant West director Warren Chant said since December 2011, growth funds have delivered 23 positive monthly returns out of 28, “mainly on the back of recovering share markets in Australia and overseas”.
“Since the GFC low point at the end of February 2009 growth funds have now advanced 67 per cent and stand about 23 per cent above their pre-GFC high reached at the end of October 2007,” said Mr Chant.
Research provider SuperRatings said the median balanced option recorded a 0.7 per cent return for the month of April, bringing the return in the 12 months leading to 30 April 2014 to 11.3 per cent.
SuperRatings believes returns in May so far have been slightly negative and estimates a 0.4 per cent drop in performance for the month leading to 19 May 2014.
SuperRatings founder Jeff Bresnahan said despite this negative estimate for May, the year to date return for super is still sitting around 11 per cent with “funds on track to deliver positive returns to members for the second consecutive year”.
According to SuperRatings, out of the balanced options, Telstra has the highest return per annum on a five-year basis at 11 per cent, followed by REST Core Strategy at 10.7 per cent and Russell SuperSolution with 10.6 per cent.
The Chant West data showed retail funds slightly outperformed industry funds, returning 0.9 per cent against the industry fund return of 0.8 per cent.
