Real return strategies are rapidly gaining favour among advisers and investors, according to financial services firm Perpetual.

The investment style is designed to provide a higher certainty of achieving a real return objective with a lower level of risk and lower sensitivity to extreme market events, the company said.

Perpetual’s head of multi asset Michael O’Dea said investors have gained a greater appreciation of the benefits of using real return funds.

“Real return strategies offer investors the convenience of an expanded set of investment opportunities within a single fund,” Mr O’Dea said.

“In addition, these funds have tremendous scope to adjust the asset allocation based on the manager’s view of the likely returns and risks of any asset class.”

Mr O’Dea also noted the importance of diversity in portfolio construction, citing a recent Wealth Insights report that revealed multi-asset strategies now compose up to 19 per cent of investor portfolios, an increase from an average of 8 per cent in 2007.

“Real return strategies offer a breadth of investment ideas and portfolio construction that can protect and grow investors’ capital,” he said.