The Australian and international share markets have pushed the returns of the average balanced super fund to near pre-global financial crisis levels, industry data has found.

According to data from Superratings, the average fund with about 60 to 76 per cent in growth assets, including shares, was only 1.4 per cent off the levels seen in October 2007.

When looking at the growth of $100,000 over the last 10 years, the account would have reached $176,940 in October 2007, while it would have reported a balance of $174,406 in August this year.

Over the past 12 months, the average balanced portfolio returned 6.5 per cent.

"This has been driven by stronger performance in Australian and International shares over the same period, with returns of 5.1 per cent and 8.7 per cent respectively," Superratings analysts said in a report released yesterday.

"If the market gains are sustained over the next few months, we will most likely see the rolling 12 month return break into the double digit territory before the end of the year."

Data from Chant West, also released yesterday, showed a similar picture.

Chant West defines the average super portfolio as having between 61 and 80 per cent in growth assets, and on this basis the average account still needs to grow by about 2.5 per cent to reach the levels seen in October 2007.

"While this is good news, it's sobering to think that we're still only talking about getting back to where we were nearly five years ago," Chant West director Warren Chant said yesterday.

He said the positive performance of the share markets over the last two months was mainly due to the absence of bad news, rather than the result of positive news.

"More recently, strong policy statements from the European Central Bank and the US Federal Reserve have encouraged investors, and markets have risen further so far in September," he said.