ICICI PRUDENTIAL HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES FUND - Direct Plan IDCW

ICICI PRUDENTIAL HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES FUND - Direct Plan IDCW sits in the middle of the pack for Thematic funds, currently carrying a 2-star rating. TopFund's composite Health Score, which weighs rating, 3-year CAGR, expense ratio and fund size, puts it at 63/100.

Cost: At 1.19%, the expense ratio runs 10% above the Thematic category average of 1.08%. That gap is worth weighing against the fund's actual performance versus cheaper peers before committing to a long SIP.

Risk-adjusted performance: Over the trailing 1-year period, the fund shows a negative Sharpe ratio of -0.85 — over the past year, returns haven't kept pace with the volatility involved, even before accounting for the risk-free rate. Separately, annualised volatility of 16.68% is fairly typical for actively managed equity funds.

Who should invest: This fund is best suited to investors whose goals and risk appetite align with a Equity fund. Given the Very High risk rating, this fund is not suited to short-term goals or investors who may need to exit within 2-3 years.