The CGIII report, produced monthly by Investment trends, analyses the views of more than 700 actively engaged investors.
This month, the report indicated that 43 per cent of all investors surveyed believe they need more international assets in their investment portfolio; this figure was up 8 percentage points on October's.
According to the report, SMSF and high-net wealth (HNW) investors are the main drivers of this demand.
It revealed 50 per cent of SMSF investors plan to invest offshore within the next three months, compared to only 33 per cent of non-SMSF investors.
HNW investors were also bullish towards international investments, with the HNW index sitting at 190 points for November, while it was only 174 points for all other active investors during this period.
This represents the highest index level for HNW investors on record.
According to Certitude Global Investments, these results are in line with a corresponding decrease in the proportion expecting healthy growth in the Australian economy which was at 59 per cent, down 6 percentage points from October.
Certitude Global Investments' chief executive, Craig Mowll, said this uptick in Australian investors' intentions to invest overseas was also identifiable iin the October results, particularly from HNW and SMSF investors.
“These investors can often be leading indicators of the rest of the market in identifying and taking advantage of the vast world of investment opportunity that exists outside of Australia,” said Mr Mowll.
While it experienced a slight decline of 2 percentage points from October, the United States remains the favoured international market, at 38 per cent.
However, the gap between this region and other markets is closing.
November’s results showed that investors are gradually moving to international funds covering multiple regions.
Mr Mowll said this shows investors are not completely aligned with one geographic location or another, possibly due to a lack of knowledge on where to allocate offshore assets.
“One possible explanation is confusion from investors on where they should go to achieve true diversification benefits from international investing,” said Mr Mowll.
In terms of barriers to investment, insufficient funds was listed as the greatest barrier, by 21 per cent of investors, increasing 6 per cent from October.
This was followed by a lack of knowledge about international investing at 9 per cent.
“This month, the stated barriers to international investing as well as the apparent indecision on where to allocate indicate that Australian investors feel insufficiently equipped to make informed decisions about which region or asset class they should invest in,” said Mr Mowll.
