The superannuation industry continues to grow rapidly, with the latest APRA statistics showing the pool of assets hit $2.6 trillion at the end of December 2017 – up 10.1 per cent year-on-year.
The APRA quarterly report also shows that total assets in MySuper products totalled $635.2 billion at the end of the December 2017 quarter, up 19 per cent from December 2016.
As at December 2017, there was $721 billion sitting in self-managed superannuation funds.
Australians contributed $25.4 billion to their superannuation in the December 2017 quarter, and total contributions for 2017 were $116.6 billion.
The industry-wide rate of return for superannuation entities with more than four members for the year ending December 2017 was 8.8 per cent.
Breaking down the asset allocation of entities with more than four members (which account for $1.6 trillion of the super 'pie'): 23.4 per cent was in Australian-listed equities, 23.9 per cent in international-listed equities, and 4.1 per cent in unlisted equities.
Fixed income and cash investments accounted for 31.5 per cent of investments for entities with more than four members (20.5 per cent in fixed income and 11 per cent in cash).
Property and infrastructure accounted for 13.3 per cent of investments, and 3.7 per cent were invested in other assets, including hedge funds and commodities.
Industry funds had the highest allocation to equities, holding just over 50 per cent of their portfolios in listed companies.
