Two Newcastle postcodes have more than three times the average superannuation balance of the city's lowest suburb, new data from the industry's peak body has revealed.
The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) data shows a huge gap between the two postcodes and the rest of the city.
The 2300 postcode, which includes Bar Beach, Cooks Hill, Newcastle, Newcastle East and The Hill, topped the list with an average balance of $256,232. Merewether and The Junction's postcode of 2291 was next with $251,420.
The 2305 suburbs of Kotara East and New Lambton were third with $188,516, while Hamilton (2303) was fourth with $184,535 and 2289 suburbs Adamstown, Garden Suburb, Highfields and Kotara rounded out the top five with $156,911.
On the other end of the scale, Shortland (2307) had the lowest average balance with $80,391, the 2298 suburbs Georgetown, Waratah and Waratah West were next with $100,186, then Kooragang, Mayfield, Sandgate and Warabrook at 2304 with $101,327, Tighes Hill (2297) with $105,619 and Islington's 2296 with $106,832.
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The average balance across Newcastle was however above the state and national average. Newcastle residents have an average balance of $153,418, compared to the NSW average of $140,886 and national of $139,041. This was despite Newcastle having a lower proportion of residents aged over 65 (21 per cent) than the national rate (23.4 percent).
ASFA Deputy CEO, Glen McCrea said as well as the types of jobs in each area, including the number of self-employed residents, the age of the local population also impacted on the data.
He said this was particularly relevant currently, with almost 400,000 Australians under 35 having emptied their super in the government's early release scheme.
The Herald reported on Saturday that 13,377 Hunter residents had drained their retirement savings entirely and 72,098 people in the Newcastle, Shortland, Paterson and Hunter federal electorates had utilised the government offer in some way.
"We're quite concerned about young people," Mr McCrea said. "For example, if a 25-year-old takes $20,000 out and is out of the workforce for a couple of years, they could be $85,000 worse off by retirement."
Mr McCrea said people who dipped in when they needed to should try to replace the money when their financial situation improves.
"A spare $100 or $200 could turn into many thousands," he said.
ASFA also used the data to show its support for the phased super guarantee increase to 12 per cent by 2025.
"There needs to be an opportunity to catch back up," Mr McCrae said. "We've got an aging population, soon there will be fewer taxpayers and more retirees.
"If more people are on pensions, workers will have to pay more tax to support them. People's savings are going to have to do the heavy lifting."
