We unpack the household term deposit numbers, finding the 80/20 rule firmly in place. We also see those with smaller balances returning to this savings option

There are now $167.3 billion in household term deposits (TDs) with banks, plus another $65.6 bln of TDs held by businesses and other organisations.

That $167.3 bln is growing, up 4.5% year-on-year. Growth slowed consistently from April 2023 to January 2026 (at just 1.6% a year ago), but has turned up faster since.

Most household term deposits in banks are $100,000 or more. In fact, that accounts for almost three quarters of the money invested this way (actually 73.5%). And the weight of money in this cohort has slowly risen from 70% 10 years ago.

The Reserve Bank data from which this analysis is drawn only tracks the dollar amount in each of seven value bands. This record starts in December 2017 and is monthly until July 2026. We can make an educated guess as the the average value in each category to get an assessment of how many term deposit accounts there are. And there are a lot - more that 1.85 mln accounts currently. That is more than the number of current home loans (1.4 mln at the end of 2025 held by a bit more than1 mln households).

This all confirms the 80/20 rule. In this case 20% of the deposits account for 73% of the value.

But having noted that, the fastest recent growth in the number of term deposit accounts are in the lower value bands. Over the past year, TD accounts with less than $50,000 in them treaded water, with numbers easing lower from June 2025 until the end of that year. But now we are seeing a recovery in these lower value sets. Those with higher balances didn't really miss a beat over that same period.

This analysis does not cover term deposits at non-banks. Reserve Bank data shows that would only add another $3 bln at most.

But there are about 1000 households with at least $5 mln in term deposits in banks worth about $5 bln. That alone is far more in this group than in non-bank deposit taker TD accounts. Another 15,000 have more than $1 mln. each. And more than 100,000 have between $250,000 and $1 mln in a TD account.

Non-bank deposit takers face a big opportunity to grab some of that bank share, but face big challenges convincing savers they are equal to the task with the Depositor Compensation Scheme (DCS) in place. The mind-set and risk views of those who hold bank term deposits will need a lot of convincing, even with the DCS.