Living in Blenheim: rents, schools, census and property titles
The 3,653 live property titles in Blenheim, Marlborough District are mostly freehold (76%), as recorded by LINZ on 30 September 2026. Cross-lease titles number 664 (18.2%), well above the national share of 8.7%.
- Cross-lease titles
- 664
- Share of live titles
- 18.2%
- Live titles in total
- 3,653
- Marlborough District share
- 7.4%
- New Zealand share
- 8.7%
- Rank by share in Marlborough District
- 2 of 10
- Rank by share in New Zealand
- joint 150 of 644
Blenheim at a glance
Higher or lower is not better or worse. Sources and limits
Start here
What the data tells you
Recorded facts
- Blenheim is listed under Marlborough District.
- 3,653 live titles are recorded here, including 664 cross-lease titles (18.2%).
- The page includes 2023 Census context for the statistical area that represents this suburb.
- The page includes MBIE new-tenancy rent figures for April–June 2026.
Contextual observations
- Cross-lease titles make up 18.2% of the recorded title mix. That describes the suburb, not any particular home.
- Unit titles account for 3.2% 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
- Mapped public-transport context is not available for this suburb.
Title mix in Blenheim
| Title type | Live titles | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Freehold | 2,787 | 76.3% |
| Cross lease | 664 | 18.2% |
| Unit title | 116 | 3.2% |
| Leasehold | 45 | 1.2% |
| Other record types | 41 | 1.1% |
| Total | 3,653 | 100% |
Counts are titles, not homes; the register can lag conversions, so check the certificate of title. Sources and limits
How Blenheim compares
Nationally, 8.7% of live titles are cross-lease; Blenheim is about 2.1 times the national share (8.7%).
Across Marlborough District as a whole, the share is 7.4%; Blenheim is about 2.5 times the overall Marlborough District share (7.4%).
Its cross-lease share is 2nd highest of 10 in Marlborough District (among suburbs with an indexed page on this site).
How cross-leases in Blenheim are set up
Three-flat schemes are more common here (21%, against 12% nationally).
Separate exclusive-use areas are less common (3% of schemes, against 5% nationally).
More leases include a garage (41% of schemes, against 28% nationally).
| Scheme structure | Blenheim | Marlborough District | New Zealand |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cross-lease schemes (shared sections) | 264 | 989 | 87,651 |
| Two-flat schemes | 65.5% | 77.5% | 76.2% |
| Three-flat schemes | 20.5% | 12.2% | 12.2% |
| Four or more flats | 14.0% | 10.2% | 11.4% |
| Typical section size (from the titles, not a survey) | 881 m² | 870 m² | 908 m² |
| Typical land per flat | 350 m² | 394 m² | 408 m² |
| Schemes with a garage written into a lease | 40.5% | 35.0% | 28.4% |
| Schemes with a carport in a lease | 13.3% | 11.2% | 13.3% |
| Schemes with a separate exclusive-use area | 2.7% | 2.4% | 4.5% |
| Schemes referring to more than one flats plan (usually redrawn; not by itself a problem) | 30.7% | 31.5% | 35.6% |
| Median year of earliest current title | 1985 | 1989 | 1988 |
| Two-flat schemes on 700 m² or more | 121 | 593 | 54,978 |
Unit titles and leasehold in Blenheim
Unit titles are 3% of Blenheim's titles, well above Marlborough District (2%) and well below New Zealand (8%). They belong to 24 developments, each run by a body corporate; half have 4 units or fewer.
45 titles (1.2%) are leasehold, close to the national share (1.2%).
10 of them have a stated term that has ended or has under 10 years to run, which is worth reading closely in the lease.
Stated lease terms, as at 30 September 2026:
| Stated lease term | Titles |
|---|---|
| Stated term has ended | 7 |
| Under 10 years left | 3 |
| 10 to 50 years left | 4 |
| More than 50 years left | 15 |
| Term mentions renewal (including perpetually renewable) | 16 |
| Term not stated or not readable | 0 |
New titles in Blenheim since 2020
253 of Blenheim's current titles (7%) were first issued since 2020, slightly below Marlborough District's suburbs with new-title figures taken together (8%) and well below New Zealand (12%).
| Title type | Since 2020 | Since 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Freehold | 202 | 104 |
| Unit title | 23 | 2 |
| Cross-lease | 10 | 5 |
| Leasehold | 7 | 3 |
| Other | 11 | 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 Blenheim
The typical building in Blenheim stands on ground sloping 0.7° (read on an 8 m grid, so short steep banks may be understated).
Nearly all of its 4,890 measured buildings (100%) stand on ground under 5°.
Much of the land is low-lying: the median elevation is 4 m.
Slope is not a measure of ground stability. Sources and limits
Distance to the coast from Blenheim
Blenheim is inland: the typical title is 7.8 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 Blenheim: 2023 Census
Blenheim's titles fall in 6 census areas (Stats NZ statistical areas). The 4 shown below hold 97% of its titles; their figures are shown side by side and are not added together.
More households have no car in Whitney East than across Marlborough District: 7.9% against 4.4%.
Fewer workers work from home in Whitney East than across Marlborough District: 9.5% against 16.7%.
More workers walk or cycle to work in Whitney East than across Marlborough District: 10.9% against 8.0%.
| Measure | Whitney East 29% of titles | Blenheim Central 29% of titles | Whitney West 25% of titles | Yelverton 13% of titles | Marlborough District whole council |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Usual residents | 2,394 | 1,200 | 2,400 | 2,505 | 49,431 |
| Change since 2018 | +0.0% | +4.2% | −2.9% | −4.1% | +4.4% |
| Change since 2013 | +10.2% | +12.4% | +3.4% | +7.3% | +13.9% |
| Median age | 43.5 | 36.2 | 42.6 | 49 | 46.1 |
| Households | 1,008 | 462 | 999 | 1,041 | 19,587 |
| Own or part-own their home (including family trusts) | 66.7% | 48.7% | 66.7% | 70.0% | 74.0% |
| Not owned and not in a family trust (mostly renting) | 33.0% | 51.3% | 33.6% | 29.7% | 26.0% |
| Median household income | $73,000 | $68,300 | $75,000 | $74,200 | $81,700 |
| Median weekly rent, renting households | $400 | $380 | $374 | $397 | $384 |
| Dwellings unoccupied on census night | 6.3% | 7.1% | 6.6% | 7.0% | 17.9% |
| Ages | |||||
| Under 15 | 15.2% | 16.5% | 17.1% | 14.0% | 16.7% |
| 15 to 29 | 17.0% | 21.3% | 15.0% | 15.4% | 14.4% |
| 30 to 64 | 45.1% | 45.8% | 44.9% | 40.6% | 45.0% |
| 65 and over | 22.8% | 16.5% | 23.1% | 29.9% | 23.9% |
| Where people came from | |||||
| Born overseas | 25.4% | 23.0% | 22.5% | 24.2% | 19.7% |
| Of those born overseas, arrived in the last 5 years | 32.2% | 50.0% | 30.9% | 25.8% | 24.6% |
| Lived elsewhere in New Zealand 5 years ago (of all residents, including children born since) | 43.9% | 46.1% | 43.6% | 46.0% | 44.3% |
| Lived overseas 5 years ago (of all residents) | 5.0% | 6.0% | 3.8% | 3.8% | 3.6% |
| Moved here in the last year (of all residents) | 17.8% | 27.0% | 20.4% | 18.6% | 16.6% |
| Work and study (people 15 and over) | |||||
| Bachelor degree or higher | 17.5% | 14.1% | 21.5% | 22.3% | 18.5% |
| Employed full-time | 50.6% | 54.5% | 49.5% | 44.8% | 49.6% |
| Unemployed (share of everyone 15 and over, not the unemployment rate) | 1.8% | 3.3% | 2.3% | 1.8% | 1.7% |
| Managers and professionals (of those employed) | 32.5% | 30.4% | 37.5% | 42.4% | 39.0% |
| Median personal income | $38,900 | $35,800 | $39,900 | $36,200 | $39,400 |
| Getting to work (of those employed) | |||||
| Work from home | 9.5% | 11.2% | 11.4% | 13.3% | 16.7% |
| Car, truck or van | 78.4% | 75.4% | 73.9% | 73.1% | 74.1% |
| Bus, train or ferry | 0.2% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.2% |
| Walk or cycle | 10.9% | 12.1% | 13.5% | 12.9% | 8.0% |
| Households and families | |||||
| One-person households | 32.6% | 34.8% | 32.3% | 31.5% | 25.6% |
| Average people per household | 2.3 | 2.3 | 2.3 | 2.3 | 2.4 |
| Households with no motor vehicle | 7.9% | 6.0% | 7.1% | 8.1% | 4.4% |
| Crowded households (need one or more extra bedrooms) | 4.6% | 5.7% | 3.7% | 3.0% | 3.5% |
| Couples with children (of families) | 33.0% | 29.8% | 32.7% | 35.6% | 34.2% |
| Couples without children | 50.7% | 44.0% | 49.5% | 49.3% | 53.2% |
| One-parent families | 15.8% | 26.2% | 17.8% | 15.1% | 12.6% |
| Homes | |||||
| Separate (stand-alone) houses | 77.2% | 71.5% | 79.1% | 76.4% | 84.9% |
| Average bedrooms | 2.9 | 2.6 | 2.9 | 3 | 3.1 |
| Heated with a heat pump | 77.4% | 69.9% | 74.0% | 81.2% | 66.7% |
| Damp, always or sometimes | 11.7% | 12.8% | 11.1% | 7.6% | 11.0% |
| Mould over A4 size, always or sometimes | 7.7% | 8.2% | 6.2% | 6.2% | 7.1% |
Rents around Blenheim
New tenancies in Whitney East in the April–June 2026 quarter had a median rent of $565 a week (up 3.7% on a year earlier). That is close to the typical suburb in Marlborough District ($550), and close to the national median ($600); 3rd highest of 7 in Marlborough District.
| April–June 2026 | Whitney East 29% of titles | Blenheim Central 29% of titles | Whitney West 25% of titles | Yelverton 13% of titles | New Zealand |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Median weekly rent, new tenancies | $565 | $465 | $545 | $630 | $600 |
| Middle half of rents | $470–$625 | $405–$535 | $486–$628 | $585–$674 | $490–$700 |
| Change in median on a year earlier | +3.7% | −15.5% | +3.8% | +5.9% | +0.2% |
| Bonds lodged in the quarter | 18 | 12 | 18 | 12 | 40,827 |
Schools and hospitals near Blenheim
LINZ maps 4 school sites inside Blenheim, among them Blenheim School (Contributing) and Marlborough Boys' College (Secondary (Year 9-15)).
- Blenheim School (Contributing)
- Marlborough Boys' College (Secondary (Year 9-15))
- St Mary's School (Blenheim) (Full Primary)
- Whitney Street School (Contributing)
- Nearest school: Marlborough Boys' College (0.2 km)
- Nearest secondary school: Marlborough Boys' College (0.2 km)
- Nearest public general hospital: Wairau Hospital (2.4 km)
School enrolment zones in Blenheim: a guide
The largest primary-school zone share of Blenheim's titles is in Whitney Street School's home zone (about 55%).
- Whitney Street School (primary, Years 1–6): about 55% of titles
- Blenheim School (primary, Years 1–6): about 30% of titles
- Riverlands School (primary, Years 1–8): about 15% of titles
- Bohally Intermediate (intermediate, Years 7–8): about 85% of 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 Blenheim
OpenStreetMap maps 9 places of worship inside Blenheim (9 Christian).
Nearest mapped place of each tradition within 10 km:
- Christian: St Marys, under 1 km away
Listed as facilities for access; not an indicator of who lives here. Sources and limits
Other suburbs in Marlborough District with many cross-leases
- Redwoodtown: 499 cross-lease titles (19.8%)
- Witherlea: 400 cross-lease titles (14.5%)
- Picton: 272 cross-lease titles (13.0%)
- Springlands: 153 cross-lease titles (6.5%)
- Mayfield: 113 cross-lease titles (11.8%)
- Riversdale: 49 cross-lease titles (8.0%)
- Waikawa: 47 cross-lease titles (4.8%)
- Renwick: 33 cross-lease titles (2.5%)
All suburbs in Marlborough District
Suburbs like Blenheim
The closest match on the measures on this site is Redwoodtown in Marlborough District, nearest on unit-title share, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Redwoodtown | Marlborough District | 19.8% | $535 | 41.8 | unit-title share, slope, distance to the coast |
| Mayfield, Marlborough District | Marlborough District | 11.8% | No data | 39.3 | slope, elevation, population change |
| Redwood | Christchurch City | 21.2% | $600 | 38.6 | slope, schools, stand-alone houses |
| Woolston | Christchurch City | 15.2% | $530 | 40.5 | slope, population change, elevation |
| Bishopdale, Christchurch City | Christchurch City | 19.1% | $598 | 38.4 | slope, unit-title share, born overseas |
Questions
What is the rent in Blenheim?
New tenancies in Whitney East (the rent area for part of Blenheim) had a median rent of $565 a week in the April–June 2026 quarter (MBIE bond data, all dwelling types). These are rents agreed for new tenancies, not asking rents. The middle half of those rents ran from $470 to $625.
What schools are in Blenheim?
LINZ maps 4 school sites inside Blenheim, including Blenheim School, Marlborough Boys' College and St Mary's School (Blenheim). The nearest secondary school to its centre is Marlborough Boys' College (0.2 km in a straight line). Being near a school does not mean being in its zone.