10 top-performing super funds for 2026 revealed – did yours make the list?
Key takeaways
- UniSuper's Growth fund was Australia's top super fund in the last 12 months, with a 12.3% return.
- Hostplus Balanced was the top-performing balanced fund over the last decade, returning 8.9%.
- What's next: Check out the 10 top super funds below, and see if your fund is getting you a good return.
Australian super funds closed out a strong financial year, with growth funds returning an average 9.5% in the last 12 months.
That's according to the latest Chant West data.
The UniSuper Growth fund was the top performer over the last 12 months, with a 12.3% return. NGS Super Diversified (MySuper) came in second at 11.5%.
Here's the full list.
| Rank | Fund | 1-Year Return (%) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | UniSuper Growth | 12.3% |
| 2 | NGS Super Diversified (MySuper) | 11.5% |
| 3 | CFS FirstChoice Growth | 11.5% |
| 4 | Hostplus Balanced | 10.8% |
| 5 | UniSuper Balanced | 10.4% |
| 6 | Team Super Growth | 10.2% |
| 7 | legalsuper MySuper Balanced | 10.2% |
| 8 | PSSap MySuper Balanced | 10.0% |
| 9 | GESB Super My GESB Super | 9.9% |
| 10 | MLC MySuper Growth | 9.9% |
This short-term growth is really impressive, largely driven by the strong performance of international shares.
"Generally speaking, the better performing funds were those that had higher allocations to international shares, particularly where a larger proportion of that exposure was currency hedged," said Chant West head of super investment Mano Mohankumar.
Defensive assets like Australian bonds, international bonds and cash saw weaker returns well below 5%.
But the only negative performer, according to Mohankumar, was "Australian listed property, which declined 1.8%."
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The top-performing funds over the last decade saw Hostplus Balanced come out on top, with an 8.9% return.
Here's the full list.
| Rank | Fund | 10-Year Return (% pa) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hostplus Balanced | 8.9 |
| 2 | Brighter Super Balanced | 8.8 |
| 3 | Australian Retirement Trust Balanced | 8.7 |
| 4 | AustralianSuper Balanced | 8.5 |
| 5 | Vision Super Balanced Growth | 8.4 |
| 6 | UniSuper Balanced | 8.3 |
| 7 | HESTA Balanced Growth | 8.3 |
| 8 | legalsuper MySuper Balanced | 8.3 |
| 9 | Aware Super Balanced | 8.2 |
| 10 | Cbus Growth (MySuper) | 8.1 |
10-year growth performance is a more important long-term metric when judging the performance of a super fund.
What if your super fund didn't make the cut?
First of all, don't panic. Chant West doesn't compare every single fund (some high-performing funds have only been in the market for a few years).
If you're closer to retirement, you'll likely be in a lower-growth, lower-risk super fund. That means it won't show up in the top performers.
But performance data like this is a great motivator to compare your super fund. If you're in a fairly normal balanced fund, the top options over the last decade returned between 8.1% and 8.9%.
If your fund is below this you might want to find a new one.
But you might also decide you want higher growth. A growth-oriented fund, while riskier and more exposed to global stock markets, could get you a yearly return of well over 10% (in a good year!).
The general rule of thumb with super is that younger people can chase higher growth and more risk, because they have more time to recover if there's a market crash.
If you're just a few years from retirement, being entirely invested in growth assets is a much riskier proposition.
Sources
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