Super & Downsizing · Updated October 2026
Super Benefits for Downsizers: Add Up to $300,000 From Age 55
Selling the family home? The downsizer contribution lets you put up to $300,000 of the proceeds into super, and up to $600,000 as a couple.
The age limit has dropped from 65 to 55 since we first wrote this guide. Here is how it works in 2026.
Source: Australian Taxation Office. Current as at October 2026.
Who Can Make a Downsizer Contribution?
The downsizer contribution was introduced on 1 July 2018 for people aged 65 and over. The age has since been lowered in stages, and from 1 January 2023 anyone aged 55 or older can use it.
It is a one-off contribution from the sale of your home. It does not count towards your concessional or non-concessional caps, there is no work test, and your existing super balance does not stop you from making it.
- Age: you are 55 or older when you make the contribution.
- Amount: up to $300,000 each. A couple can contribute up to $600,000, even if only one of you was on the title.
- Ownership: you and/or your spouse owned the home for 10 years or more before the sale.
- Main residence: the sale qualifies, fully or partly, for the main residence capital gains tax exemption.
- The home: a residential building in Australia, not a caravan, houseboat or mobile home.
- Timing: contribute within 90 days of receiving the sale proceeds, usually settlement.
- Paperwork: give your fund the Downsizer contribution into super form (NAT 75073) before or when you contribute.
- Once only: you can only make a downsizer contribution from the sale of one home.
You do not have to buy another home to use it. Full details are on the ATO downsizer contributions page.
What It Can Affect
The contribution is not counted towards your caps, but it is not invisible either:
- Total super balance: it is included in your balance when it is calculated at the end of the financial year, which can affect other contributions you make later.
- Transfer balance cap: it counts towards your cap when you move it into a retirement-phase pension.
- Age Pension: your home is exempt from the assets test, but money in super is assessed once you reach Age Pension age. Moving equity from the home into super can reduce or remove a pension.
- Sale proceeds: if you sold on or after 1 January 2023 and plan to buy or build your next home, the proceeds you set aside for it can be exempt from the assets test for up to 24 months, and in some cases 36. See Services Australia.
The downsizer contribution is a good tool, but it is only one part of the decision. Before you sell, work out what your home is worth today, whether it could be worth more with the right improvements or a development, and what you need to buy next. Then let your adviser decide how much should go into super.
Make the Sale Count
The more you sell for, the more you have to work with. Before you list, it pays to know:
- what your home is worth on the open market, and what it might be worth to a developer;
- whether a renovation, a subdivision or a second dwelling would lift the result;
- what you will buy next, where, and what it will cost to run.
That is where we come in. See what your home is worth, build or renovate first and our full Downsize & Boost Super guide.
No obligation
Planning to Sell and Top Up Your Super?
Tell us about your home and your timing. We will help you work out how to get the most from the sale before you and your adviser decide what goes into super.
Prefer to call? 0413 108 125
Sources: ATO: Downsizer super contributions; Services Australia: Real estate assets and sale of your home. General information only, current as at October 2026. Rules change: confirm your position with a licensed adviser.
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