Property turning investors off SMSFs

By Katarina Taurian

16 February 2016

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The proportion of prospective SMSF trustees citing property investment as a reason to set up an SMSF has declined, new research has revealed.

According to research house Investment Trends’ 2015 SMSF Investor report, the reasons prospective trustees gave for wanting to set up property via their super dropped to 27 per cent in 2015 from 37 per cent in the previous survey.

“Property has typically been a really strong reason for people wanting to set up an SMSF,” Investment Trends analyst King Loong Choi said.

“Part of the reason for the decline was a lot of regulatory uncertainty around the borrowing rules – that was a key barrier for people.

“The other key barrier here is how the property environment has performed over the last 12 months. There’s a lot of investors who have a negative sense about how they expect the market to perform in 2016.”

Surprisingly, 31 per cent of trustees cited control as a reason for establishing an SMSF – down from 44 per cent in 2014.

However, the proportion of respondents citing advice from friends for family as the reason for setting up an SMSF has risen to 28 per cent from 24 per cent.