Age Pension Assets Test 2026: How Much Can You Have?

It’s one of the most Googled retirement questions in Australia, and for good reason: “How much can you have and still get the age pension?” If you’ve spent decades building up a nest egg, the last thing you want is to accidentally hand back your Age Pension because you were a few thousand dollars over a line you didn’t know existed.

The Age Pension assets test isn’t nearly as scary as it sounds – here’s how it works in 2026, and how much you can have while still getting some (or all) of the pension.

The Short Answer

As of 1 July 2026, if you own your home you can hold quite a bit before your pension is affected. A single homeowner can have up to $333,000 in assessable assets and still receive the full Age Pension. A homeowner couple can have up to $499,000 combined.

Go above that and you don’t lose everything, your pension just gradually reduces until it phases out entirely at $733,500 (single homeowner) or $1,102,500 (homeowner couple). More on that “gradually” part below, because it’s the bit most people get wrong.

What is The Assets Test?

Centrelink uses two tests to work out your Age Pension: an income test and an assets test. Think of them like two bouncers at the door. Centrelink runs both, then pays you whichever result gives you the lower pension.

The assets test looks at the market value of almost everything you own: your super (once you’re of Age Pension age, currently 67), bank accounts, term deposits, shares, managed funds, investment properties, your car, and even your household contents. And no, they don’t value your lounge suite at what you paid for it, it’s current market value.

Your family home doesn’t count. The place you actually live in is exempt from the assets test, so nobody is going to make you sell the house you’re sitting in.

The 2026 Age Pension Assets Test Limits

Here are the current thresholds (effective 1 July 2026 to 19 September 2026):

If you don’t own your home, your limits are higher as the government builds in extra room to reflect the cost of renting. Non-homeowner cut-off points sit above the homeowner figures, so it’s worth checking the exact number for your situation on the Services Australia assets test page.

One more thing worth flagging is that these figures are reviewed and adjusted by the government in March, July and September each year, so if you’re reading this later in 2026, double-check the current numbers before making any decisions.

How The “Taper” Works

Here’s the part that trips people up. When your assets go over the full pension threshold, your payment doesn’t switch off. It’s a dimmer switch, not an on/off light switch.

For every $1,000 you hold above the lower threshold, your pension reduces by $3 per fortnight (that’s about $78 a year per $1,000). It keeps dimming until it reaches zero at the cut-off point.

So, if you’re a single homeowner with $400,000 in assessable assets, you’re $67,000 over the $333,000 mark. That trims your pension, but you’ll still comfortably receive a healthy part pensioN, and, just as importantly, you keep your Pensioner Concession Card, which unlocks cheaper medicines, energy discounts and other perks that are often worth more than people realise.

Don’t Forget The Income Test

Because Centrelink pays you the lower of the two test results, it’s not enough to only look at your assets. The income test matters too.

For financial assets like savings and shares, Centrelink doesn’t ask what you actually earned. It uses a shortcut called deeming, which assumes your money earns a set rate of return regardless of reality. From March 2026, the first $66,800 (single) or $110,600 (couple, combined) is deemed to earn 1.25%, and anything above that is deemed at 3.25%. You can read more on the Services Australia income test page.

Two people with the exact same assets can end up with very different pensions depending on how those assets are structured. Which brings us to the interesting part.

Legit Ways To Structure Things

There are entirely legitimate, ASIC-and-Centrelink-approved ways to organise your finances so you’re not leaving pension entitlements on the table. A few common ones are:

• Home improvements. Because your home is exempt, renovating, paying down the mortgage, or replacing that dodgy hot water system reduces your assessable assets and improves your day-to-day life. Win-win.
• Gifting — within limits. You can gift up to $10,000 per financial year, capped at $30,000 over any rolling five-year period, without it counting against you. Go over that and the excess is treated as if you still own it for five years, so timing matters. See the Services Australia gifting rules.
• Funeral bonds and prepaid funerals, which are generally exempt up to set limits.
• Timing super and investments around your (and your partner’s) Age Pension age.

A word of caution, though: this is exactly the kind of thing where a well-meaning “tip from a mate” can cost you thousands. The rules interact in fiddly ways, and the right move for your neighbour might be the wrong one for you. This is general information, not personal advice, so your own numbers deserve a proper look.

Getting it Right in Brisbane and Toowoomba

Whether you’re in Brisbane, Toowoomba, or anywhere across South-East Queensland, the Age Pension is often just one piece of a bigger puzzle that also involves your superannuation and retirement strategy, your estate planning, and how you draw down your savings over time.

At HPartners, our Centrelink & Aged Care specialists do this every day. We’ll help you work out exactly what you’re entitled to, structure your assets sensibly, and handle the Centrelink paperwork so you don’t have to decode the forms yourself. You can also explore our Pre-Retirement & Retirement resources or run a few “what if” scenarios with our financial calculators.

How Much Can You Have And Still Get The Age Pension?

Every situation is different, and a small tweak here or there can make a real difference to your fortnightly payment. Get in touch with the HPartners team and we’ll help you make sense of the Age Pension assets test.

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Any advice is general in nature only and has been prepared without considering your needs, objectives or financial situation. Before acting on it, you should consider its appropriateness for you, having regard to those factors. Before making any decision about whether to acquire a financial product, you should obtain the Product Disclosure Statement.