New stats from IFIC reveal December sales and year-end gains
Canadian investment funds roared to a stunning finish in December, with both mutual funds and ETFs celebrating new record highs according to the latest data from the Investment Funds Institute of Canada.
ETFs continued their strong performance by recording their highest ever month of net sales with a total $10.6 billion, improving on the previous month’s $9 billion. The stellar finish to the year means Canadian ETFs enjoyed net sales of almost $75 billion in 2024, more than double the 2023 total.
December recorded net sales in all major asset classes with the exception of specialty (net redemptions of $176 million following $444 million net sales in November). Equities gained the most in dollar terms with $7.9 billion (versus $6.3 billion in November), while bonds more than doubled sales to $2 billion (from $999 million), and balanced funds saw net sales of $712 million (from $563 million). Money market funds posted a dip to $99 million net sales (from $462 million in November).
Investor activity and market performance means that Canadian ETF assets continued to build in December having smashed through the $500 billion mark. The $517.6 billion total was up $2.3 billion or 0.4% since November and the year saw a remarkable 35.5% increase.
Equity ETFs accounted for $327 billion of the total assets, bonds $117 billion, money market $28 billion, balanced $23 billion, and specialty $23 billion.
Mutual fund success
While ETFs have often dominated the headlines in recent years, Canadian mutual funds were reaching their own milestones in 2024.
IFIC’s data shows that mutual fund assets increased by $303.7 billion, or 15.7% last year, the largest annual dollar growth in mutual fund assets on record.
Mutual fund assets totalled $2.2 trillion at the end of December, down by $25.3 billion or 1.1% since November and made up of $1 trillion for balanced, $869 billion for equities, $282 billion for bonds, $38 billion for specialty, and $57 billion for money market.
December marked a sixth consecutive month of net inflows with investors buying a net $2.6 billion of these funds, down from the previous month’s $4.6 billion which was the second-highest monthly net sales total ever.
Bond funds dipped to $1.9 billion (from $2 billion in November), while equities took a bigger tumble to $50 million (from $678 million), and specialty eased to $500 million (from $733 million). But it was balanced funds that saw the largest negative turn, recording net redemptions of $573 million in December following net sales of $493 million in November.
Money market funds were the only asset class to improve on their previous month, with net sales of $721 million (from $685 million), following November’s 10x gain on October sales.
The big story for mutuals though is that the strength of the industry in the second half of 2024 in particular saw the year end with overall positive net inflows, which is quite the rebound given two consecutive years of negative net sales.
