Research firm Chant West has forecast the median balanced superannuation fund will report a 13.4% fall in the 12 month to 30 June, making 2008-09 the worst year for super funds on record. Super fund members are on track to suffer losses for the second consecutive year, after the average fund declined 6.9% in 2007-08.
The Australian sharemarket has fallen about 25% since 1 July 2008, and Chant West predicts super funds’ holdings of unlisted property and infrastructure assets will decline in value by 20-25%.
Of course, it could have been much worse – in the early stages of this year, sharemarkets were down by as much as 40% and super fund managers were extremely nervous.
The predictions of a horror result for 2008-09 comes just weeks after superannuation fund members were rattled by changes to super rules in the Federal budget, and government plans to increase the eligibility age for the aged pension.
James was the editor and publisher of SmartCompany and LeadingCompany for five years. He is now the Australian Financial Review‘s companies & markets editor, and a former BRW editor.
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