Mutual funds took in half a billion in net sales in November, the Investment Funds Institute of Canada reported today.

Net sales, excluding re-invested distributions of $247 million, totalled $513 million in the month. “Net sales for the month of November were $513 million, marking the highest month of sales in the industry this year. This is the second consecutive month of positive sales and the fourth in the last five months,” said Tom Hockin, IFIC’s president and CEO, in a news release.

Notably, long-term funds managed almost $800 million in net sales, but $280 million came out of the money market funds in the month. “Long-term fund sales … continue to propel the recent string of positive sales the industry has been experiencing,” Hockin said.

However, investors’ asset allocation decisions continue to show their caution. The strongest asset class in November was the dividend funds, which had $495.3 million in net sales. Bond funds added another $323.7 million in net sales. Balanced funds saw $217.5 million in net sales.

However, money flowed out of the pure equity asset classes. Canadian equity funds had $177.9 million in monthly net redemptions, followed by $99.1 million in redemptions from foreign equity funds, and $4.5 million came out of U.S. equity funds.

Total assets under management increased in November to $423.6 billion, up 0.8% from $420.3 billion in October. Assets are up 6.6% from last November’s figure of $397.5 billion.

The strongest gains came in companies such as CIBC, Guardian, Manulife, Standard Life, Brandes and Mawer.

AIC saw assets slide 1.9% in the month, and there was weakness evident at Investors Group, Mackenzie, Fidelity and Scotia.

IFIC also reported the total number of unitholder accounts at 51.1 million, a 2.8% decrease over one year ago.