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.
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