Living in Waikiwi: schools, census and property titles
The 1,548 live property titles in Waikiwi, Invercargill City are almost all freehold (87%), as recorded by LINZ on 30 September 2026. Cross-lease titles number 128 (8.3%), close to the national share of 8.7%.
- Cross-lease titles
- 128
- Share of live titles
- 8.3%
- Live titles in total
- 1,548
- Invercargill City share
- 7.3%
- New Zealand share
- 8.7%
- Rank by share in Invercargill City
- 8 of 15
- Rank by share in New Zealand
- joint 372 of 644
Waikiwi at a glance
Where Waikiwi differs most from suburbs across New Zealand: median age (higher than 94% of NZ suburbs).
Higher or lower is not better or worse. Sources and limits
Start here
What the data tells you
Recorded facts
- Waikiwi is listed under Invercargill City.
- 1,548 live titles are recorded here, including 128 cross-lease titles (8.3%).
- The page includes 2023 Census context for the statistical area that represents this suburb.
Contextual observations
- Cross-lease titles make up 8.3% of the recorded title mix. That describes the suburb, not any particular home.
- Unit titles account for 4.1% of recorded titles, so title structure can vary within the suburb.
- Coast distance is a suburb-level map measure, not a flood or hazard assessment.
Questions worth investigating
- For any cross-lease property you consider, do the current title, flats plan and lease match what is built today?
- What do the LIM, council property file and a suitable inspection add for the specific address?
No data held for this suburb
- A usable MBIE new-tenancy rent figure is not available for this suburb.
- Mapped public-transport context is not available for this suburb.
Title mix in Waikiwi
| Title type | Live titles | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Freehold | 1,343 | 86.8% |
| Cross lease | 128 | 8.3% |
| Unit title | 64 | 4.1% |
| Leasehold | 2 | 0.1% |
| Other record types | 11 | 0.7% |
| Total | 1,548 | 100% |
Counts are titles, not homes; the register can lag conversions, so check the certificate of title. Sources and limits
How Waikiwi compares
Nationally, 8.7% of live titles are cross-lease; Waikiwi is close to the national share (8.7%).
Across Invercargill City as a whole, the share is 7.3%; Waikiwi is slightly higher than the overall Invercargill City share (7.3%).
How cross-leases in Waikiwi are set up
More schemes have four or more flats on one section (24%, against 11% nationally), up to 46.
Three-flat schemes are less common here (8%, against 12% nationally).
| Scheme structure | Waikiwi | Invercargill City | New Zealand |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cross-lease schemes (shared sections) | 25 | 714 | 87,651 |
| Two-flat schemes | 68.0% | 53.8% | 76.2% |
| Three-flat schemes | 8.0% | 22.8% | 12.2% |
| Four or more flats | 24.0% | 22.7% | 11.4% |
| Typical section size (from the titles, not a survey) | 895 m² | 994 m² | 908 m² |
| Typical land per flat | 424 m² | 362 m² | 408 m² |
| Schemes with a garage written into a lease | 32.0% | 33.6% | 28.4% |
| Schemes with a carport in a lease | 16.0% | 16.1% | 13.3% |
| Schemes with a separate exclusive-use area | 0.0% | 1.7% | 4.5% |
| Schemes referring to more than one flats plan (usually redrawn; not by itself a problem) | 32.0% | 23.0% | 35.6% |
| Median year of earliest current title | 1994 | 1982 | 1988 |
| Two-flat schemes on 700 m² or more | 17 | 326 | 54,978 |
New titles in Waikiwi since 2020
178 of Waikiwi's current titles (11%) were first issued since 2020, well above Invercargill City's suburbs with new-title figures taken together (7%) and slightly below New Zealand (12%).
That rate is the highest of 15 in Invercargill City.
28 are cross-lease titles, often re-issued when a flats plan is updated.
| Title type | Since 2020 | Since 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Freehold | 142 | 69 |
| Unit title | 7 | 3 |
| Cross-lease | 28 | 10 |
| Leasehold | 1 | 0 |
| Other | 0 | 0 |
New titles include cross-leases converted to freehold and titles re-issued; they are not a count of new homes. Sources and limits
The lie of the land in Waikiwi
The typical building in Waikiwi stands on ground sloping 0.9° (read on an 8 m grid, so short steep banks may be understated).
Nearly all of its 1,954 measured buildings (99%) stand on ground under 5°.
Much of the land is low-lying: the median elevation is 5 m.
Slope is not a measure of ground stability. Sources and limits
Distance to the coast from Waikiwi
Waikiwi is inland: the typical title is 4.9 km from the sea or harbour edge, and fewer than 1 in 2,000 titles are within 1 km of it.
Measured in a straight line from the centre of each title's land to the coastline on LINZ's 1:50k topographic map, which follows harbours and estuaries as well as the open coast; lakes and rivers are not included. Distance says nothing about beach access, views or exposure to coastal hazards; council hazard maps and the LIM describe those.
Who lives around Waikiwi: 2023 Census
About 95% of Waikiwi's titles are in the census area Waikiwi (a Stats NZ statistical area), so these figures describe that area, not Waikiwi exactly.
More residents are 65 or over in Waikiwi than across Invercargill City: 35.1% against 18.4%.
People are older (median age) in Waikiwi than across Invercargill City: 51.3 against 40.
More workers work from home in Waikiwi than across Invercargill City: 11.4% against 9.2%.
| Measure | Waikiwi | Invercargill City whole council |
|---|---|---|
| Usual residents | 3,528 | 55,599 |
| Change since 2018 | +5.9% | +2.6% |
| Change since 2013 | +12.1% | +7.5% |
| Median age | 51.3 | 40 |
| Households | 1,359 | 22,125 |
| Own or part-own their home (including family trusts) | 83.0% | 72.4% |
| Not owned and not in a family trust (mostly renting) | 17.0% | 27.6% |
| Median household income | $82,700 | $80,900 |
| Median weekly rent, renting households | $390 | $350 |
| Dwellings unoccupied on census night | 6.3% | 6.8% |
| Ages | ||
| Under 15 | 15.6% | 18.4% |
| 15 to 29 | 12.5% | 18.0% |
| 30 to 64 | 36.7% | 45.1% |
| 65 and over | 35.1% | 18.4% |
| Where people came from | ||
| Born overseas | 12.4% | 14.9% |
| Of those born overseas, arrived in the last 5 years | 23.6% | 32.7% |
| Lived elsewhere in New Zealand 5 years ago (of all residents, including children born since) | 50.2% | 42.9% |
| Lived overseas 5 years ago (of all residents) | 2.2% | 3.3% |
| Moved here in the last year (of all residents) | 18.0% | 17.7% |
| Work and study (people 15 and over) | ||
| Bachelor degree or higher | 16.3% | 17.6% |
| Employed full-time | 42.5% | 51.6% |
| Unemployed (share of everyone 15 and over, not the unemployment rate) | 1.3% | 2.6% |
| Managers and professionals (of those employed) | 39.9% | 34.8% |
| Median personal income | $35,200 | $39,900 |
| Getting to work (of those employed) | ||
| Work from home | 11.4% | 9.2% |
| Car, truck or van | 82.4% | 83.5% |
| Bus, train or ferry | 0.2% | 0.6% |
| Walk or cycle | 5.1% | 5.6% |
| Households and families | ||
| One-person households | 29.4% | 29.0% |
| Average people per household | 2.3 | 2.4 |
| Households with no motor vehicle | 7.2% | 6.6% |
| Crowded households (need one or more extra bedrooms) | 1.6% | 3.4% |
| Couples with children (of families) | 35.9% | 38.0% |
| Couples without children | 53.6% | 43.5% |
| One-parent families | 10.5% | 18.4% |
| Homes | ||
| Separate (stand-alone) houses | 86.8% | 87.7% |
| Average bedrooms | 3 | 3 |
| Heated with a heat pump | 83.3% | 79.6% |
| Damp, always or sometimes | 9.4% | 15.4% |
| Mould over A4 size, always or sometimes | 7.3% | 11.3% |
Schools and hospitals near Waikiwi
LINZ maps 3 school sites inside Waikiwi, among them Ruru Special School (Specialist School) and Sacred Heart School (Waikiwi) (Contributing).
- Ruru Special School (Specialist School)
- Sacred Heart School (Waikiwi) (Contributing)
- Southland Adventist Christian School (Full Primary)
- Nearest school: Southland Adventist Christian School (0.3 km)
- Nearest secondary school: Southland Boys' High School (2.7 km)
- Nearest public general hospital: Southland Hospital (7.4 km)
School enrolment zones in Waikiwi: a guide
Two secondary schools have a home zone covering most of Waikiwi's titles: James Hargest College and Verdon College.
- Donovan Primary School (primary, Years 1–6): all or nearly all titles
- Southland Adventist Christian School (primary, Years 1–8): all or nearly all titles
- St John's Girls' School (Invercargill) (primary, Years 1–8): all or nearly all titles
- James Hargest College (secondary): all or nearly all titles
- Verdon College (secondary): all or nearly all titles
A guide only: check the school's own zone map for any address. Zones as at 14 July 2026. Sources and limits
Places of worship near Waikiwi
OpenStreetMap maps 2 places of worship inside Waikiwi (2 Christian).
Nearest mapped place of each tradition within 10 km:
- Christian: Sacred Heart Catholic Church, under 1 km away
- Buddhist: Wat Buddhasamakhee Invercargill, 2.7 km away
- Muslim: Southland Muslims Association Masjid, 5.3 km away
Listed as facilities for access; not an indicator of who lives here. Sources and limits
Other suburbs in Invercargill City with many cross-leases
- Windsor: 400 cross-lease titles (22.5%)
- Appleby: 335 cross-lease titles (19.5%)
- Richmond: 230 cross-lease titles (19.2%)
- Strathern: 191 cross-lease titles (11.2%)
- Gladstone: 129 cross-lease titles (11.3%)
- Invercargill: 89 cross-lease titles (10.7%)
- Grasmere: 80 cross-lease titles (6.1%)
- Avenal: 74 cross-lease titles (10.8%)
All suburbs in Invercargill City
Suburbs like Waikiwi
The closest match on the measures on this site is Windsor, Invercargill City in Invercargill City, nearest on commuting by public transport, slope, distance to the coast. Closeness is arithmetic, not a rating. Sources and limits
| Suburb | Council | Cross-lease share of titles | Median weekly rent, new tenancies | Median age | Closest on |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windsor, Invercargill City | Invercargill City | 22.5% | No data | 47.2 | commuting by public transport, slope, distance to the coast |
| Newfield | Invercargill City | 3.8% | $560 | 40.6 | slope, elevation, population change |
| Gladstone, Invercargill City | Invercargill City | 11.3% | $450 | 43.4 | commuting by public transport, slope, elevation |
| Richmond, Invercargill City | Invercargill City | 19.2% | $528 | 41.4 | commuting by public transport, slope, elevation |
| Strathern | Invercargill City | 11.2% | No data | 38 | commuting on foot or by bike, born overseas, slope |
Questions
What schools are in Waikiwi?
LINZ maps 3 school sites inside Waikiwi: Ruru Special School, Sacred Heart School (Waikiwi) and Southland Adventist Christian School. The nearest secondary school to its centre is Southland Boys' High School (2.7 km in a straight line). Secondary-school home zones covering most of its titles are James Hargest College and Verdon College; check the school's own zone map for any address.