The SMSF sector grew by more than $54 billion over the past financial year, representing 24 per cent of all assets held within the superannuation system, according to new figures released by the ATO today.
The “SMSF annual statistics overview 2023-24” stated total SMSF assets at 30 June 2025 were $1051.8 trillion, up from $990 billion at the end of June last year.
The total number of funds also increased to 653,062 at the end of the 2025 financial year, up by around 42,000 from the 614,613 funds recorded in 2023/24.
That change was reflected in the high number of net establishments in 2024/25 of 38,449 funds off the back of 41,980 new funds established and 3531 funds wound down, compared to last financial year when 33,032 new funds were established and 15,146 funds were wound down, for a net figure of 17,886.
The figures show while SMSF numbers increased by 15 per cent over the past five years, 64.7 per cent of funds have existed for more than 10 years and a further 12.5 per cent have been around for five to 10 years.
In regards to asset allocation, 73 per cent of all SMSF assets were held in five areas – listed shares (26.9 per cent), cash and term deposits (16.9 per cent), unlisted trusts (12.4 per cent), non-residential property (10.1 per cent) and limited recourse borrowing arrangements (LRBA) (6.7 per cent).
As part of the release of the statistics, the ATO also provided an overview of the top 100 SMSFs for the 2024 financial year, noting they made up $13.7 billion, or 1.4 per cent, of all SMSF assets at 30 June 2024.
These funds also have long lifespans, with 32 funds older than 30 years, 46 funds existing for 20 to 29 years, 16 funds around for 10 to 19 years and only 6 per cent existing for less than a decade.
The long operation of these funds was reflected by figures showing 71 per cent of members in these funds were aged over 60, including 28.9 per cent aged 75 to 84 and 5.1 per cent aged over 85.
The top five asset classes held by these funds were the same as the wider SMSF sector, but showed higher concentrations to listed shares (37 per cent) and unlisted trusts (19 per cent), while cash and term deposits were lower (9 per cent), as was non-residential property (8 per cent), with LRBAs held at the same level as the wider sector (7 per cent).
