Funds under management for tracker funds were £83bn at the end of July 2014. Their overall share of industry funds under management was 10.2 per cent, compared with 9.4 per cent in July 2013.

The popularity of tracker funds – which offer a cheaper way to gain exposure to markets – has been steadily rising over the last ten years. In 2004 they made up just 6.1 per cent of the industry total.

Equities continued to be the best-selling asset class by far in July for the sixteenth consecutive month with net retail sales just over the £1bn mark, boosted by sales of £1bn through the UK Equity Income sector.

The UK was considerably the best-selling region for equity funds with net retail sales of £678m.

Mixed Asset was the second best-selling asset class with net retail sales of £390m.

Property was the third best-selling asset class with net retail sales of £304m.

Net retail sales for funds of funds were £173m, with funds of funds invested with different asset management firms making up £115m, compared to £58m for funds of funds invested into the same firm’s funds.

Funds under management for funds of funds were at £92bn as at the end of July 2014, accounting for 11.4% of industry funds under management, compared with 11.3 per cent in July 2013.

UK fund platforms continued to see the highest gross retail sales at £8.1bn, representing a 59 per cent market share, up from 50% last July.

Gross retail sales for other intermediaries – which includes wealth managers, stockbrokers and advisers – totalled £4.5bn, a market share of 33 per cent, down from 42 per cent in July 2013.

Direct gross retail sales in July 2014 were £1bn, representing a market share of 7.4 per cent, a fall from 8.5 per cent for the same month last year.