Chant West has shared the top 10 growth superannuation funds of the 2025 calendar year, with all but two hitting double digit returns.
The research house estimated that the median growth fund, those with 61-80 per cent in growth assets, delivered a 9.3 per cent return for the 2025 calendar year.
Combined with the 11.4 per cent gains in 2024 and 9.9 per cent in 2023, Chant West said there has been growth of almost 35 per cent over the past three years.
All of the top 10 performing super funds returned above the median and the top eight hit double digits.
The top fund overall was legalsuper MySuper Balanced which returned 11.5 per cent during 2025, closely followed by NGS Super Diversified (MySuper) which returned 11.2 per cent.
In third place was Hostplus Balanced, returning 10.5 per cent for the year. This fund also came through as the top growth fund for 10-year performance with a return of 8.7 per cent for the decade to December 2025.
Tied in fourth for the 2025 calendar year was UniSuperGrowth and GESB Super My GESB Super with both returning 10.4 per cent.
Top 10 growth super funds in 2025
| Fund | Annual returns to 31 December 2025 % |
| Legalsuper MySuper Balanced | 11.5 |
| NGS Super Diversified (MySuper) | 11.2 |
| Hostplus Balanced | 10.5 |
| UniSuper Growth | 10.4 |
| GESB Super My GESB Super | 10.4 |
| CFS FirstChoice Growth | 10.2 |
| Equip Balanced Growth | 10.2 |
| Equip My Super | 10.1 |
| Vanguard Super Save Smart Growth | 9.9 |
| PS Sao My Super Balanced | 9.7 |
Source: Chant West, 19 January 2026
Chant West senior investment research manager Mano Mohankumar said the positive returns of all major asset classes was the driver behind 2025 returns, with international share markets in particular reporting an 18.6 per cent return on a currency-hedged basis.
“On average, growth funds have 31 per cent in total invested in international shares and 25 per cent allocated to Australian shares, with Australian shares also contributing meaningfully, returning 10.7 per cent,” Mohankumar said.
“With share markets performing so well in 2025, particularly international shares, naturally the better performing super funds generally had higher allocations to those asset classes. Funds that had lower allocations to unlisted property, cash and bonds would have also benefitted, as did those with lower exposure to the US dollar.”
Notably, none of Australia’s top three largest superannuation funds – AustralianSuper, Australian Retirement Trust (ART) and Aware Super – ranked among the top performers for 2025, though they did make the list for the 10 years to December 2025.
However, Mohankumar suggested that members need to think long-term when it comes to their super.
According to Chant West, ART Balanced in second at 8.5 per cent, followed by AustralianSuper Balanced at 8.2 per cent, and AwareSuper Balanced in ninth which saw returns of 8 per cent for this period.
