Analysis into SMSF investors has revealed the rotation out of cash into growth assets, a movement from listed Australian equities into international equities via managed funds and the move to direct property have persisted as key themes over the past two years.
The September quarter results for OneVue’s SMSF holdings found cash and term deposits were at 28 per cent in September 2012, but were at 21.85 per cent for the September quarter 2014.
Listed shares made up 32.73 per cent of the portfolio in September 2012 and were at 27.87 per cent in the September quarter this year.
In addition, unitised trusts had increased from 10.32 per cent in September 2012 to 19.19 per cent.
Direct property was 4.84 per cent in September 2012 and was now 8.88 per cent.
“Talking to the two-year numbers is more interesting as it starts to give some longer-term trends,” OneVue head of platform strategy, sales and service David Storm told selfmanagedsuper.
“We see ourselves in a cycle now where over two years we’re absolutely seeing movement in the growth assets where international is the beneficiary of a lot of that movement.
“We’re seeing a small downturn in the separately managed accounts (SMA) piece, but we are seeing a significant uplift in property holdings in SMSFs, and while we can’t see as to whether that’s borrowed or not, we’re certainly seeing a significant uplift in people acquiring property in their SMSFs over a two-year period.”
No new trends had emerged or were expected to emerge in the coming quarters, Storm said.
However, the direct property figure of 8.88 per cent was slightly skewed due to recent company activity, he said.
“That’s not a true indication across our client base of that move into property, but we are seeing it as a trend across the book,” he said.
“Part of it is driven by clients having a view that they’d like to host property in their SMSF and part of it would be advisers becoming comfortable with the growth prospects of property in a low interest rate environment.”
SMAs went from 23.16 per cent to 22.62 per cent quarter on quarter, previously coming from a high of 26.79 per cent in the December 2013 quarter, according to the OneVue summary.
“I think that talks to the fact that people are disillusioned with active management,” Storm said.
“Unitised trusts are the big one, having started at 10.32 per cent in September 2012, up to 19.19 per cent this quarter, and this is the move from local equities to international equities and accessing those via managed funds.”
