The latest ATO SMSF statistics make for interesting reading.

The number of new funds established for the 11/12 year was 36,270, the highest in 5 years and the second highest ever. The number of windups for the same period was 994, the lowest ever by nearly 4,000. This makes the net growth of SMSFs in 2011/2012 nearly 3,000 per month and confirms the increasing popularity of this type of superannuation arrangement.

The total number of funds as at Sept 2012 was 488,576 containing 932,198 members. The average number of members per fund has altered little over the last 8 years at just under two. Only 1% of members are less than 25 years of age with about 16% of fund members being less than 45. The largest demographic is the 55 to 64 age group (33.4%).  Overall women comprise 47.4% of members   

From June 2008 to June 2012 fund assets increased by 43% to $458,451 million. As at June 2011 the average fund balance was $963,002. Clearly this has been influenced by some very large funds as the median balance is $539,486.

Given the amount of recent press attention focused on the rise of residential property investment it is interesting to note that from June 2008 to September 2012, though non-residential investment rose from 9.5% to 11.6%, residential investment has only increased from 3.3% to 3.5% of fund assets.