Real Property KiwiSaver Scheme pulls the pin

The Real Property KiwiSaver Scheme (RPKS) was closed down in May and the funds of members are now to be distributed to other providers.

RPKS director Lindsay Hay says a bulk cheque from the funds has been given to Prince Partners to distribute.

He says about 90% of RPKS members have chosen a new KiwiSaver provider with a lot changing over to Fisher Funds and a few to Gareth Morgan.

The RPKS was set up for investors who were not confident about investing in assets like shares, however the scheme never really got off the ground without a property to its name.

Hay says a few properties were looked at, but several million dollars were needed to get somewhere and the fund wound up with just under $1 million and only 70 people signed up.

“If we had $5 million or $6 million we’d have been away but it wasn’t forthcoming and we were up against the big boys which wasn’t easy.”

He says the timing of starting the scheme up was a shame with the recession keeping people’s hands in their pockets.

“We had great support and a lot of people are disappointed, but we pulled the pin because we didn’t have enough money to get traction and as a result we were going to struggle.”

In March last year RPKS’ annual financial statement showed it had just $405,998 funds under management.