Vanguard Australian Shares High Yield ETF
Performance
Total return to 23 Oct 2026, distributions reinvested, before franking. ASX figures are to 30 Sept 2026 and gross of franking, so they run higher for franked Australian funds.
What it costs to hold
Management fee plus trading costs, compared with similar funds.
A typical fund among Australian equity funds would cost $187 (0.37% a year), so VHY is $60 cheaper.
Spread is the average gap between buying and selling prices on the ASX. Fees are shown on a flat balance, not compounded on growth. Excludes tax and any adviser or platform fees.
Calendar-year returns
Where the money is
Look-through exposure as at 31 July 2026 · 91 securities · top 10 = 62.6%
Country
Sector
Monthly returns
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1.8 | 7.2 | −3.1 | 1.6 | 1.4 | −0.7 | 3.3 | 0.0 | −1.1 | 1.3 | 11.9YTD | ||
| 2025 | 3.2 | −2.9 | −1.7 | 2.2 | 3.5 | 2.2 | 2.1 | 5.4 | −1.6 | 2.3 | −2.6 | 2.1 | 14.8 |
| 2024 | 2.1 | 1.0 | 2.7 | −2.5 | 0.6 | 1.4 | 3.2 | 0.1 | 3.1 | −1.6 | 3.6 | −2.2 | 11.8 |
| 2023 | 5.5 | −2.7 | −0.6 | 1.1 | −3.2 | 3.3 | 3.2 | −1.1 | −1.2 | −3.0 | 3.4 | 6.4 | 11.1 |
| 2022 | −2.7 | 2.8 | 8.7 | −0.5 | −1.4 | −8.5 | 4.0 | 1.4 | −5.4 | 6.6 | 7.5 | −2.7 | 8.5 |
| 2021 | 1.2 | 3.7 | 2.4 | 3.1 | 2.7 | 2.0 | 1.1 | −1.1 | −2.2 | −0.9 | −0.5 | 4.3 | 16.7 |
| 2020 | 3.8 | −8.0 | −21.8 | 8.6 | 5.2 | 3.1 | 0.7 | 1.3 | −4.0 | 2.0 | 13.1 | 2.5 | 1.7 |
| 2019 | 3.2 | 7.1 | 0.4 | 2.4 | 2.7 | 3.5 | 1.8 | −3.9 | 3.9 | −2.4 | 2.4 | −1.8 | 20.4 |
| 2018 | −0.9 | −1.3 | −4.3 | 2.7 | −1.2 | 3.5 | 1.5 | 2.3 | −0.5 | −6.7 | −1.4 | −0.9 | −7.5 |
| 2017 | −2.2 | 2.8 | 4.8 | 0.0 | −1.9 | 1.4 | 0.9 | 0.9 | −0.8 | 2.2 | 1.4 | 0.0 | 9.9 |
| 2016 | −6.9 | −2.9 | 6.0 | 5.9 | −0.2 | −2.0 | 5.9 | −2.4 | 1.3 | −1.7 | 3.0 | 5.1 | 10.7 |
| 2015 | 2.3 | 6.5 | 0.1 | −1.7 | 1.0 | −5.8 | 1.5 | −7.7 | −3.6 | 3.7 | −1.4 | 2.0 | −3.8 |
| 2014 | −4.0 | 4.0 | 1.1 | 1.5 | 1.6 | −1.2 | 3.9 | 0.7 | −6.6 | 4.1 | −3.0 | 2.6 | 4.0 |
| 2013 | 5.6 | 6.9 | −0.2 | 5.5 | −6.2 | −0.7 | 5.4 | 2.2 | 2.5 | 4.0 | −1.8 | 1.7 | 26.9 |
| 2012 | 1.2 | 2.4 | 3.2 | 0.2 | −5.4 | 1.7 | 4.8 | 2.2 | 0.2 | 1.9 | 0.6 | 3.5 | 17.4 |
| 2011 | −2.1 | −4.7 | −0.6 | −2.3 | 5.4 | −3.8 | −0.3 | −8.4 |
Total return each month in %, distributions reinvested, before franking. The latest month runs to the last price date. The first year starts from listing.
Top holdings
Most similar funds
Overlap is the share of the portfolio held in common, look-through. Correlation is of daily returns. High overlap means close substitutes.
VHY questions answered
Written from the latest data on this page. General information only, not financial advice.
How diversified is Vanguard Australian Shares High Yield ETF?
Vanguard Australian Shares High Yield ETF holds 91 securities, and its ten largest positions make up 62.6% of the fund, more concentrated than the 51.2% typical of Australian equity funds. That makes it fairly concentrated.
Its country exposure is almost entirely Australia (100.0%), and its biggest sector is Financials at 51.6%, based on holdings as at 31 July 2026.
Which ETFs does VHY double up with most?
VHY shares the most holdings with Betashares S&P Australian Shares High Yield ETF (HYLD) (73% overlap), iShares Global High Yield Bond (AUD Hedged) ETF (IHHY) (73% overlap) and SPDR S&P/ASX 50 ETF (SFY) (68% overlap). Overlap is the share of the portfolio the two funds hold in common, looking through to the underlying securities.
At 73%, owning both VHY and HYLD would mostly double up on the same investments rather than spread your money further. Of these, SFY has the lowest fee, at 0.20% a year against 0.25% for VHY.
How is Vanguard Australian Shares High Yield ETF managed – active or passive?
Vanguard Australian Shares High Yield ETF is passively managed: it follows an index and holds what that index holds, rather than relying on a manager's stock picks. Its index uses a dividend approach, so it is sometimes called "smart beta".
Among Australian equity funds, active funds charge a median 0.85% a year and index funds 0.34%.
What will I pay in fees for VHY?
VHY charges a management fee of 0.25% a year, about $25 for every $10,000 invested. That is cheaper than 75% of the 471 ASX ETFs we track, where the median fee is 0.44%. Among Australian equity funds, the median is 0.35%.
Lower-cost funds with a similar focus include SPDR MSCI Australia Select High Dividend Yield ETF (SYI) at 0.20%, iShares S&P/ASX Dividend Opportunities ESG Screened ETF (IHD) at 0.23% and Global X S&P/ASX 200 High Dividend ETF (ZYAU) at 0.24%.
If you would rather have a manager choose the investments, active options such as Ausbil Active Dividend Income Fund - Active ETF (DIVI) at 0.85% and Martin Currie Real Income Fund - Active ETF (R3AL) at 0.85% cost more.
The fee is taken from the fund's assets and is already reflected in its returns. You'll also pay brokerage when you buy or sell, and the bid-ask spread, which has averaged 0.02% for VHY.
Does Vanguard Australian Shares High Yield ETF follow a theme?
Its focus is income. It favours investments that pay higher, regular distributions. Over the past year it paid out 3.6% of its price, across 4 payments.
What is under the hood of VHY?
As at 31 July 2026, VHY's ten largest holdings are Commonwealth Bank of Australia (10.4%), BHP Group Ltd (9.4%), Westpac Banking Corp (6.6%), National Australia Bank Ltd (6.5%), ANZ Group Holdings Ltd (5.8%), Rio Tinto Ltd (5.4%), Woodside Energy Group Ltd (5.3%), Telstra Group Ltd (4.8%), Macquarie Group Ltd (4.5%) and Transurban Group (3.9%). Together they make up 62.6% of the fund.
Rather than simply weighting companies by market size, its index favours companies that pay higher dividends.
How well has Vanguard Australian Shares High Yield ETF performed?
Based on its category, Vanguard Australian Shares High Yield ETF aims mainly to pay a regular income, with capital growth secondary.
To 23 Oct 2026, with distributions reinvested, it returned 10.9% over 1 year (median 0.6%; ranked 5 of 65), 16.4% a year over 3 years (median 11.6% a year; ranked 7 of 54) and 12.1% a year over 5 years (median 6.6% a year; ranked 6 of 48). The medians and rankings compare it with Australian equity funds. Since listing in 2011 it has returned 9.2% a year.
Tracking difference is the gap between a fund's return and its index's return. We don't hold index returns, so we can't measure it for VHY; the issuer reports it in the monthly fact sheet. As a guide, a well-run index fund trails its index by about its fee, here 0.25% a year, and a much bigger gap is a warning sign.
Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.