Retail investors piled £4.8bn into investment funds in July, according to Investment Association data.

The £4.8bn of net inflows was almost three times the amount seen in July 2020.

However, after several months of steady rises, the percentage of total retail sales via intermediaries (including Financial Planners) fell to 25.7% (June 2021: 26.2%).

The first half of 2021 saw total net retail fund sales of over £24bn, the highest level of half-year sales since 2017. This means that so far this year investors have put £28.9bn into funds. 

Laura Suter, head of personal finance at investment platform AJ Bell, said that while retail investment fund sales were expected to dip as life begins to return to more normal patterns following the end of Coronavirus pandemic lockdowns, this has not materialised.

She said: “As interest rates on cash accounts remain historically low and many people are sitting on a healthy cushion of savings from the pandemic, we’d expect to see more and more money funnelled into investments this year. Some had expected a drop-off in investments as summer hit and there was more ability to go out and spend your cash, but that doesn’t seem to have materialised.”

The highest selling sector was Global, with Global funds seeing £862m of inflows in July, taking the sector to £7.7bn of inflows so far this year.

The UK Equity Income sector saw its 14^th month in a row of outflows in July, with another £46m leaving the sector. During the past 14 months investors have pulled almost £5bn from UK Equity Income funds, despite dividends recovering.

Property investment funds have had another poor month, with the sector now two months short of having seen three years of monthly outflows.

Ms Suter said she does not expect property investment fund sales to pick up anytime soon: “While the residential property market has been going gangbusters during the pandemic, that hasn’t translated into people’s investment portfolios.

"The lock-ups in the funds, concerns about liquidity and subsequent closing of some funds means it will be a long time before we see inflows to the sector. On top of that, FCA plans to potentially bring in a notice period for the sector could well be the final nail in the coffin, with the majority of investors saying it would put them off investing.”