The shape of Australia’s super landscape

APRA has released a quarterly report providing insight into the breakdown of Australia’s super assets and member demographics.

As of 30 June 2023, total super assets stood at $2.1 trillion and $1.1 trillion of this is held in Choice products spread across 937 products and 7.5 million accounts.

By contrast, members assets of $911 billion is held in MySuper accounts, but there were only 64 products and almost double the number of accounts – 14.3 million. The rest is held in defined benefit products – $138 billion in assets, 127 products, and 0.7 million accounts.

The number of MySuper funds has declined from 69 in June 2022 as a result of closures and merger activity while the number of member assets has increased from $803 billion over the same period.

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When it comes to product choice, accumulation options have $699 billion in assets, spread across 534 products and 6.2 million accounts. Retirement products, meanwhile, account for $402 billion in assets, but this is spread across just 1.2 million accounts and 261 products. 

A further $13 billion is in transition to retirement, with 142 products, but just 0.1 million accounts.

This concentration is also reflected in the average balances, which range from $64,000 for a MySuper account, to $113,000 for a choice accumulation, $197,000 in a choice transition to retirement, $197,000 in a defined benefit, and a peak of $326,000 in a choice retirement.

When it comes to investment option breakdowns of choice products, 65.8 per cent of assets are held in multi-sector options, of which there are 14,419 options, and 28.4 per cent of assets are held in single sector, of which there are 35,048 options. The smallest volume is held in direct assets at just 5.7 per cent.

APRA also provided data on super balance by age, finding those members aged between 70–74 have the largest balances with $261,000, followed by members aged 65–69 who have an average of $247,700. 

This steadily shrank until reaching members aged under 25 who have an average balance of $6,300, although the highest volume of accounts sat in this sector at 2.9 million, up from 2.6 million a year prior. Some 2.4 million of these are in MySuper accounts, representing over 80 per cent of total assets.