As per Moneylife,
August was a terrible month for the mutual fund industry. Equity funds suffered massive redemptions amounting to Rs5,671 crore and with sales of just Rs3,385 crore, the net outflow of as high as Rs2,286 crore. This has been the highest outflow since February 2012 which saw an exodus of Rs2,809 crore.
In a recent article in BS, the national sales head of a large fund house bemoaned “Understanding investors’ sentiments is not easy. It has now become an every-month phenomenon, despite making all possible efforts to retain clients.”
So we have the retail investors deserting stocks and mutual funds in droves.
Now consider the recent press release of Godrej Properties dated Sep 12, 2012,
In a single day, the Mumbai-based real estate developer sold over 1 million sq. ft. of space in its residential project in Sector 104, Gurgaon.
Godrej Properties Ltd. (GPL) (BSE scrip id: GODREJPRP), the real estate development arm of the Godrej Group, today announced that it has sold the entire 1st phase of its residential project, Godrej Summit, in Sector 104, Gurgaon. The first phase of this project had 695 apartments across 1 million sq. ft. of space.
As can be seen from the pictures, there is a queue of investors waiting in line to give their cheques.With the current prices of around 5500 psf, Godrej Properties has booked sales of 550 Crores in one day !!
So I guess the retail investor is alive and kicking.
He prefers to stand in line for realty rather than call his broker for equity !!