Property funds see strongest 2018/19 returns
Despite falling house prices in Sydney and Melbourne, Australian-listed property funds soared during the 2018/19 financial year with over half of the sector returning more than 15 per cent.
The ACS Property-Australian Listed sector contained 67 funds at the end of June, 2019 and 36 of these returned more than 15 per cent over one year to 28 June while 14 returned more than 20 per cent, according to FE Analytics.
This compared to returns of 11.5 per cent by the ASX 200 over the same period and was an improvement on the sector’s previous year’s returns of 10.7 per cent.
The returns made the ACS Property-Australian Listed sector the best-performing sector out of all 36 ACS sectors with average returns of 16.2 per cent. Looking at the other property sectors featured, the ACS Property-Global sector returned 10.2 per cent and the ACS Property-Australia Direct sector returned 1.9 per cent.
The best-performing individual fund in the sector was the $234m VanEck Australian Property ETF which had returned 27.2 per cent over the period and the $68m Macquarie Property Securities fund which returned 26.3 per cent. None of the 67 funds saw losses over the period but the worst-performing one was OnePath OA Investment Portfolio OnePath Heine Property Securities which returned 2.8 per cent.
The worst-performing ACS sector of the year was the ACS Alternative sector which returned 0.42 per cent over the year to 30 June.
Recommended for you
There has been a “noticeable uptick” in the use of smart beta ETFs by advisers and sophisticated investors, according to Betashares, who are using the vehicles to take control of their portfolio construction.
The FSC has announced 15 proposals ahead of the federal election which it hopes will increase the competitiveness of Australia’s financial services sector, including six with a focus on fund managers.
Regal Funds Management saw total net inflows of $2.1 billion during 2024, with flows primarily going into long/short equities and multistrategy vehicles.
There is growing divergence between institutional and retail investors in their enthusiasm towards equities, according to Bank of America, with retail sentiment being “unusually low” at the start of 2025.