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Downsizers hit an almost $95m payday in 2025, according to one of the nation’s biggest super funds HESTA.
Australia is believed to have just had a record year of home downsizing, with one of the nation’s biggest super funds revealing unprecedented activity in 2025.
HESTA data shows there was a 9 per cent increase in the number of Aussies topping up their superannuation funds under the federal government’s Downsizer Super Contributions scheme last year.
But the scheme, which encourages empty nesters to sell homes bigger than they need, is still getting low take up according to a leading economist who believes there are two ways to encourage more to take the step: a strong housing market, and axing stamp duty.
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HESTA figures on the scheme’s impact revealed some states had bigger jumps than others, with South Australia surging 68 per cent and both Victoria and NSW rising 12 per cent.
The result was extra contributions at $9.8m in South Australia, $29.5m in Victoria and $31.2m in NSW.
However numbers declined by 9 per cent in Queensland and 25 per cent Western Australia, though both were at their second highest level since the super contribution scheme came into effect in 2018.
The scheme allows eligible people aged 55 and over to put up to $300,000 from a home sale into their superannuation, though couples can make a $600,000 deposit, without impacting contribution caps from other incomes.
Downsizing Australians hit record levels in 2025, according to one of the nation’s biggest super funds.
Given it requires you live in the home for 10 years prior to using the scheme and can only be used once, it’s likely most of the homes being sold were family homes.
HESTA chief executive Debby Blakey said it was likely higher use of the scheme reflected increasing awareness of it, and that their data alone showed it would have helped hundreds of Australian families upsize last year.
“The exceptional results this spring and the record annual total show us that members are
increasingly aware of how they can use this policy to both unlock their housing equity and
boost their super in a tax-effective way,” Ms Blakey said.
“This approach can have the added benefit of helping free up larger homes for growing
families.”
HESTA chief executive Debby Blakey says rising awareness would be a factor in rising use of the nation’s Downsizer Super Contributions scheme.
HESTA currently manages about $100bn in assets globally and is one of Australia’s biggest super fund providers.
AMP chief economist Shane Oliver said while an increase in Australians using the scheme would have helped release underused family homes to those needing the space, the numbers at a national level were still relatively low.
Mr Oliver said the increase in use seen in HESTA’s data would likely reflect both rising awareness, and the strength of the Australian property market in 2025.
“A lot of the headlines last year were also about record house prices in many cities, and a bit of a recovery in Melbourne,” he said.
There was a similar peak recorded by HESTA in 2021, during another market boom, followed by declining figures in the following years as interest rates rose and the market slowed, suggesting higher uptake of the scheme required a strong housing market.
The HESTA data shows the millions of dollars being put into super by downsizers in 2025.
“When you are at that point in life you are more likely to take advantage of strong market conditions,” Mr Oliver said.
“But you don’t want it too strong, as if they think it will remain strong, they might hang in there.”
In terms of boosting numbers, he said the best move for the government would be to swap stamp duty to a broadbased land tax as it would remove a major barrier for many who might otherwise sell.
Downsizer Super Contributions Since 2018
2018 — $5,162,319
2019 — $28,667,182
2020 — $29,365,499
2021 — $79,352,021
2022 — $77,488,603
2023 — $65,144,800
2024 — $87,586,999
2025 — $94,721,229
Source: HESTA
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