A strong spring selling season in 2025 resulted in industry super fund HESTA seeing a record year for downsizer contributions.
HESTA Super Fund, an industry superannuation fund for people working in health and community services, has revealed that 2025 was a record year for downsizer contributions, driven by a surge at the end of the 2025 spring selling season.
Under current tax rules, Australians aged over 55 are able to contribute up to $300,000 from the proceeds of the sale (or part sale) of their home into their superannuation fund. The non-concessional contribution does not count towards the contribution cap.
HESTA has revealed that downsizer contributions rose to over $94 million in the calendar year 2025, rising by more than 8 per cent on 2024 figures and up 45 per cent on 2023 levels.
According to HESTA, the new record came following a record month in December, when the proceeds from spring sales flowed through.
Adelaide had the most significant growth in downsizer activity of all state capitals last year, even though supply was low in the city, the super fund noted.
There was a 60 per cent increase in downsizer contributions in South Australia as downsizers took advantage of strong house price growth and demand.
Double-digit percentage growth was also seen in NSW and Victoria, with downsizer contributions rising by 13 per cent in Victoria and 12 per cent in NSW.
However, contributions fell in both Queensland and Western Australia.
HESTA said that Queensland’s downsizer contributions were down by 9 per cent following 2024 record levels, while Western Australia was down by around 25 per cent, again coming off a significant peak in 2024.
Despite drops from 2024, the total contributions in 2025 were the second-highest achieved in each state since the policy was introduced in 2018, according to the super fund.
HESTA CEO Debby Blakey said the record 2025 downsizer contributions reflected the increasing awareness and use of the downsizer scheme among eligible Australians looking to boost their retirement savings, which she said could support a freeing up of critical housing stock.
“We’re seeing more and more members using the downsizer contribution as part of their broader retirement strategy, helping them build stronger financial foundations for their future,” Blakey said.
“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.
“This approach can have the added benefit of helping free up larger homes for growing families.”
Downsizing still
While downsizer contributions increased to new highs at HESTA in the calendar year 2025, overall contributions over the financial year 2025 (ending June 2025) were still below the record highs achieved in 2022.
According to figures from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), there was a total of $4.16 billion in downsizer contributions from 15,800 individuals in FY25. This was below the record set in FY22 when just over $5 billion was contributed by 19,700.
In fact, the number of people using downsizer contributions was at a four-year low in FY25, which some have attributed to the tight supply of housing available (leading to hesitation about leaving a secure property), a lack of financial incentives, and concerns about the cost and disruption of moving (including stamp duty costs and moving costs).
In October last year, the governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), Michele Bullock, suggested that stamp duty was impeding downsizer activity.
Speaking at the time, the RBA governor highlighted a drop in home owners downsizing as a “long-term demographic challenge” affecting housing supply.
She questioned whether government policies and taxes should be adjusted to avoid discouraging people from downsizing from larger homes, describing stamp duty as a “considerable barrier” to downsizing.
Speaking about the tax, she said: “I think my predecessor called it a tax on mobility.
“It’s not only a barrier to downsizing, it’s a barrier to people moving to find jobs. So it’s also a barrier for dynamism in the economy because it basically keeps people pretty much where they are, instead of allowing them to up and move.”
PropTrack data has also shown that around 1.8 million Australians look to sell their property every year, but more than 1 million do not progress to a sale.
Bridging finance lender Athena Home Loans has suggested that part of the problem may be that Australians want to purchase their new property before selling, but a lack of clarity around the cost of doing so is preventing them from doing so. The lender recently launched a scenario modelling tool to help brokers and their clients see side-by-side comparisons of:
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Buying first and then selling.
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Selling first and then buying.
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Settling the same day.
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Keeping both properties (staying put).
[Related: RBA governor labels housing supply ‘very knotty problem’]
