Investor interest thaws after winter of discontent

The level of investment in managed funds and shares have fallen to their lowest level since early 2000 despite recent market rises, with Australians preferring to continue their love affair with property.

TheING Household Savings and Investment Reportfor the September quarter shows over 27 per cent of people surveyed held shares, down on 34.1 per cent reported in June and 30 per cent in March.

Only 14.7 per cent of those surveyed reported a managed fund investment, down from 15.4 per cent in the June quarter and 17.4 per cent in the previous September quarter.

The survey also showed that although new share investment intentions have risen since the June quarter to 8.1 per cent, this remained lower than September 2002 (9 per cent) and September 2001 (11.6 per cent).

The number of people intent on investing new savings in managed funds (4.9 per cent) has also risen but again this was well down on September last year (7.2 per cent).

ING executive director Ross Bowden says past trends have shown that after a downturn, investors look for sustained recovery in sharemarkets before committing funds.

Bowden says the results show investors are starting to view the sharemarket and equity-based managed funds more positively, and managed fund inflows and share investment would eventually rise further.

In contrast to sharemarkets, ING’s results showed interest in property remained very strong, with one in three people indicating they would invest new savings in property.

Current investment in property was reported by 16.9 per cent of respondents, equal to a record high set in the September quarter of last year.