Retail fund sales at record levels, says IMA
Share
Retail sales of investment funds hit a new peak this year despite the longest British recession on record, according to the latest figures from the Investment Management Association (IMA).
Equities have overtaken bonds as the most popular asset class, and sales of absolute return funds have surpassed those of corporate bond portfolios, bringing to an end the latter sector’s 10-month run at the top of the retail sales chart.
The IMA’s investment fund statistics for September show that net retail sales over the year to date have exceeded the total for the whole of 2000, which was the best year recorded. Total net retail sales have reached £18.7 billion so far in 2009.
September was the sixth consecutive month that net retail sales rose above the £2 billion mark
September was the sixth consecutive month that net retail sales rose above the £2 billion mark, reaching £2.7 billion, a 24% rise from August.
Total British-domiciled funds under management stand at £463.4 billion. This is the highest since December 2007, when funds hit £467.8 billion.
Net retail sales of equities were close to £1 billion in September, compared with £566m of bond sales. Over the third quarter as a whole, net equity sales reached £2.4 billion against £2.1 billion of bond sales. Within equities, there was a diverse spread of popular funds from outside Britain, with global growth and emerging market funds doing particularly well.
Absolute return funds accounted for £442.4m of net retail sales, beating the second-best selling corporate bond sector which saw sales of £323.5m.
Property was the third-best selling sector. Net retail sales of property funds more than doubled between August and September, reaching £261m as investor confidence in the asset class began to return. Property funds represented 10% of total net retail sales in September, up from 6% in August.
