10 ETFs to Watch for Yield Above 5%: Here’s Trading Data for CRED, IHWL, MQSD, SUBD, VDBA, QAU, DIVI, GLPR, IJP and VSO

Key highlights

• Ten ETFs reviewed on the ASX show annual yields from 5.00% (VSO) to 5.59% (CRED), with management fees from 0.12% to 0.85%.
• On 22 October 2026, VSO fell 1.23%, IJP fell 0.91% and IHWL fell 0.55%, while SUBD, MQSD and CRED were unchanged.
• The funds span corporate and subordinated bonds, a balanced multi-asset fund, global, Japanese and Australian equities, global property and physical gold.

Distribution-focused ETFs are often compared on their annual yield. This article reviews ten ASX-listed ETFs whose fund data shows an annual yield of 5% or more: Betashares Australian Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (ASX:CRED), iShares Core MSCI World ex Australia ESG (AUD Hedged) ETF (ASX:IHWL), Macquarie Subordinated Debt Active ETF (ASX:MQSD), VanEck Australian Subordinated Debt ETF (ASX:SUBD), Vanguard Diversified Balanced Index ETF (ASX:VDBA), Betashares Gold Bullion ETF – Currency Hedged (ASX:QAU), Ausbil Active Dividend Income ETF (ASX:DIVI), iShares Global Property ex Australia (AUD Hedged) ETF (ASX:GLPR), iShares MSCI Japan ETF (ASX:IJP) and Vanguard Australian Small Companies ETF (ASX:VSO). The data is from the trading session on 22 October 2026. Yield figures are shown as presented on the fund data, are not forecasts, and are not a recommendation.

The ten ETFs side by side

The ranking by annual yield shown in the fund data is CRED at 5.59%, then IHWL and MQSD at 5.50%, SUBD and VDBA at 5.46%, QAU at 5.40%, DIVI at 5.39%, GLPR at 5.31%, IJP at 5.05% and VSO at 5.00%. The spread between the highest and lowest is 0.59 percentage points, so the ten funds sit in a narrow band even though their holdings are very different.

Bond and credit ETFs: CRED, SUBD and MQSD

Three of the ten funds invest in bonds. CRED, priced at $22.21 and unchanged on the day, tracks the Solactive Australia Investment Grade Corporate Bond Select index, holds 63 bonds, is 99.24% in bonds and has a $1.88 billion fund size and a 0.25% fee. SUBD, at $25.16 and unchanged, tracks an investment grade subordinated debt index, holds 42 bonds mainly issued by major banks and HSBC, has a fund size of $3.97 billion and a 0.29% fee, and had the largest trading volume of the group at 250,019 units. MQSD, at $50.20 and unchanged, is an active fund that aims to outperform the Bloomberg AusBond Bank Bill Index on a rolling three-year basis, holds 100 subordinated bonds, has a $1.10 billion fund size and a 0.29% fee, and shows 78.77% of its holdings in the United States.

All three paid or announced distributions with an ex-date of 1 October 2026 and a payment date of 16 October 2026: $0.110 for CRED, $0.120 for SUBD and $0.247 for MQSD. Their betas in the datas are 0.94, 0.11 and 0.10 respectively, and their standard deviations are 4.52, 0.74 and 0.73.

A balanced fund: VDBA

VDBA, at $59.29, down 0.16%, is a fund of Vanguard funds that targets a 50% allocation to income asset classes and 50% to growth asset classes. Its asset allocation is 50.53% stocks and 48.16% bonds, it has 12 holdings that make up 97.90% of the fund in its top ten, a fund size of $939.96 million and a 0.27% fee. Its latest distribution was an interim distribution of $0.366 per unit, with an ex-date of 1 October 2026.

Equity ETFs: IHWL, DIVI, IJP and VSO

IHWL, at $65.78, down 0.55%, tracks an ESG-screened version of the MSCI World ex Australia index hedged to the Australian dollar, holds 1,100 companies with 74.44% in the United States, and has the lowest fee in the group at 0.12%. Its latest distribution was a final distribution of $3.353 per unit.

DIVI, at $11.36, down 0.26%, is an active Australian income fund with 50 holdings, led by BHP at 14.02% and Commonwealth Bank at 11.21%, and the highest fee in the group at 0.85%. IJP, at $133.18, down 0.91%, tracks the MSCI Japan index with 175 holdings and a 0.50% fee, and VSO, at $69.85, down 1.23%, tracks the MSCI Australian Shares Small Cap Index with 193 holdings and a 0.30% fee. VSO’s day range was $69.75 to $70.49 against a previous close of $70.72, and its yield of 5.00% is the lowest of the ten.

Property and gold: GLPR and QAU

GLPR, at $26.74, down 0.33%, tracks the FTSE EPRA Nareit Developed ex Australia Rental AUD Hedged index, holds 845 listed property companies with 75.08% in the United States, and has a 0.15% fee. Its latest distribution was an interim distribution of $0.185 per unit, with an ex-date of 8 October 2026.

QAU, at $30.70, down 0.51%, holds physical gold bullion with a currency hedge to the Australian dollar and has a fund size of $1.16 billion and a 0.59% fee. The data shows an annual yield of 5.40% and a final distribution of $1.660 per unit, but a fund holding physical gold does not receive interest or dividends from the gold, and the data does not explain the source of that figure, so it is the one yield in the group that should be read with particular care.

What an annual yield figure does and does not show

The annual yield in fund data summarises distributions over a period and is not a forecast. The ten funds distribute on different schedules: several pay monthly, some pay quarterly and others pay half-yearly, and half-yearly or lumpy payments can make a trailing yield look different from the most recent payment. Distributions can also include returns of capital or capital gains, and bond funds’ yields move with interest rates and credit conditions. For this reason, the latest distribution type, amount and dates are shown alongside the yield for each fund above.

Wrapping up

Ten ETFs show annual yields from 5.00% to 5.59% in their fund data, spread across bonds, a balanced portfolio, equities, property and gold, with fees from 0.12% to 0.85%. The individual fund announcements and distribution notices are the source for the detailed components of each fund’s distributions.