Living in Picton: rents, schools, census and property titles
The 2,093 live property titles in Picton, Marlborough District are mostly freehold (76%), as recorded by LINZ on 30 September 2026. Cross-lease titles number 272 (13.0%), above the national share of 8.7%.
- Cross-lease titles
- 272
- Share of live titles
- 13.0%
- Live titles in total
- 2,093
- Marlborough District share
- 7.4%
- New Zealand share
- 8.7%
- Rank by share in Marlborough District
- 4 of 10
- Rank by share in New Zealand
- joint 254 of 644
Picton at a glance
Where Picton differs most from suburbs across New Zealand: median age (higher than 97% of NZ suburbs).
Higher or lower is not better or worse. Sources and limits
Start here
What the data tells you
Recorded facts
- Picton is listed under Marlborough District.
- 2,093 live titles are recorded here, including 272 cross-lease titles (13.0%).
- 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 13.0% of the recorded title mix. That describes the suburb, not any particular home.
- Unit titles account for 8.8% 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 Picton
| Title type | Live titles | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Freehold | 1,594 | 76.2% |
| Cross lease | 272 | 13.0% |
| Unit title | 185 | 8.8% |
| Leasehold | 13 | 0.6% |
| Other record types | 29 | 1.4% |
| Total | 2,093 | 100% |
Counts are titles, not homes; the register can lag conversions, so check the certificate of title. Sources and limits
How Picton compares
Nationally, 8.7% of live titles are cross-lease; Picton is higher than the national share (8.7%).
Across Marlborough District as a whole, the share is 7.4%; Picton is about 1.8 times the overall Marlborough District share (7.4%).
How cross-leases in Picton are set up
Separate exclusive-use areas are less common (2% of schemes, against 5% nationally).
Carports appear in fewer leases (7% of schemes, against 13% nationally).
More schemes have four or more flats on one section (17%, against 11% nationally), up to 13.
| Scheme structure | Picton | Marlborough District | New Zealand |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cross-lease schemes (shared sections) | 99 | 989 | 87,651 |
| Two-flat schemes | 68.7% | 77.5% | 76.2% |
| Three-flat schemes | 14.1% | 12.2% | 12.2% |
| Four or more flats | 17.2% | 10.2% | 11.4% |
| Typical section size (from the titles, not a survey) | 852 m² | 870 m² | 908 m² |
| Typical land per flat | 337 m² | 394 m² | 408 m² |
| Schemes with a garage written into a lease | 38.4% | 35.0% | 28.4% |
| Schemes with a carport in a lease | 7.1% | 11.2% | 13.3% |
| Schemes with a separate exclusive-use area | 2.0% | 2.4% | 4.5% |
| Schemes referring to more than one flats plan (usually redrawn; not by itself a problem) | 30.3% | 31.5% | 35.6% |
| Median year of earliest current title | 1984 | 1989 | 1988 |
| Two-flat schemes on 700 m² or more | 41 | 593 | 54,978 |
Unit titles and leasehold in Picton
Unit titles are 9% of Picton's titles, well above Marlborough District (2%) and slightly above New Zealand (8%). They belong to 17 developments, each run by a body corporate; half have 7 units or fewer.
The unit-title share is the highest of 10 in Marlborough District.
13 titles (0.6%) are leasehold.
2 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 | 1 |
| Under 10 years left | 1 |
| 10 to 50 years left | 3 |
| More than 50 years left | 1 |
| Term mentions renewal (including perpetually renewable) | 7 |
| Term not stated or not readable | 0 |
New titles in Picton since 2020
90 of Picton's current titles (4%) were first issued since 2020, well below Marlborough District's suburbs with new-title figures taken together (8%) and well below New Zealand (12%).
That rate is joint lowest of 10 in Marlborough District.
| Title type | Since 2020 | Since 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Freehold | 65 | 37 |
| Unit title | 12 | 1 |
| Cross-lease | 7 | 7 |
| Leasehold | 1 | 0 |
| Other | 5 | 3 |
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 Picton
The typical building in Picton stands on ground sloping 4.3° (read on an 8 m grid, so short steep banks may be understated), the steepest of 10 in Marlborough District.
The land rises from about 0 m to 970 m, and 86% of all of it, including reserves and gullies, is 15° or steeper.
Slope is not a measure of ground stability. Sources and limits
Distance to the coast from Picton
19% of Picton's titles are within 200 m of the sea or harbour edge, 38% within 500 m and 76% within 1 km. The typical title is 660 m away.
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 Picton: 2023 Census
About 95% of Picton's titles are in the census area Waitohi (Marlborough District) (a Stats NZ statistical area), so these figures describe that area, not Picton exactly.
Fewer adults hold a degree in Waitohi (Marlborough District) than across Marlborough District: 13.5% against 18.5%.
More workers walk or cycle to work in Waitohi (Marlborough District) than across Marlborough District: 10.8% against 8.0%.
Household incomes are lower in Waitohi (Marlborough District) than across Marlborough District: $60,600 against $81,700.
| Measure | Waitohi (Marlborough District) | Marlborough District whole council |
|---|---|---|
| Usual residents | 3,153 | 49,431 |
| Change since 2018 | +3.5% | +4.4% |
| Change since 2013 | +14.6% | +13.9% |
| Median age | 54.4 | 46.1 |
| Households | 1,353 | 19,587 |
| Own or part-own their home (including family trusts) | 68.7% | 74.0% |
| Not owned and not in a family trust (mostly renting) | 31.7% | 26.0% |
| Median household income | $60,600 | $81,700 |
| Median weekly rent, renting households | $360 | $384 |
| Dwellings unoccupied on census night | 16.8% | 17.9% |
| Ages | ||
| Under 15 | 12.7% | 16.7% |
| 15 to 29 | 12.5% | 14.4% |
| 30 to 64 | 44.6% | 45.0% |
| 65 and over | 30.2% | 23.9% |
| Where people came from | ||
| Born overseas | 18.4% | 19.7% |
| Of those born overseas, arrived in the last 5 years | 12.8% | 24.6% |
| Lived elsewhere in New Zealand 5 years ago (of all residents, including children born since) | 47.6% | 44.3% |
| Lived overseas 5 years ago (of all residents) | 3.2% | 3.6% |
| Moved here in the last year (of all residents) | 16.9% | 16.6% |
| Work and study (people 15 and over) | ||
| Bachelor degree or higher | 13.5% | 18.5% |
| Employed full-time | 43.2% | 49.6% |
| Unemployed (share of everyone 15 and over, not the unemployment rate) | 2.5% | 1.7% |
| Managers and professionals (of those employed) | 32.7% | 39.0% |
| Median personal income | $32,600 | $39,400 |
| Getting to work (of those employed) | ||
| Work from home | 13.0% | 16.7% |
| Car, truck or van | 73.6% | 74.1% |
| Bus, train or ferry | 0.7% | 0.2% |
| Walk or cycle | 10.8% | 8.0% |
| Households and families | ||
| One-person households | 32.6% | 25.6% |
| Average people per household | 2.1 | 2.4 |
| Households with no motor vehicle | 6.3% | 4.4% |
| Crowded households (need one or more extra bedrooms) | 4.6% | 3.5% |
| Couples with children (of families) | 23.4% | 34.2% |
| Couples without children | 60.6% | 53.2% |
| One-parent families | 15.2% | 12.6% |
| Homes | ||
| Separate (stand-alone) houses | 73.7% | 84.9% |
| Average bedrooms | 2.8 | 3.1 |
| Heated with a heat pump | 64.9% | 66.7% |
| Damp, always or sometimes | 16.2% | 11.0% |
| Mould over A4 size, always or sometimes | 10.1% | 7.1% |
Rents around Picton
New tenancies in Waitohi (Marlborough District) in the April–June 2026 quarter had a median rent of $550 a week (up 5.8% on a year earlier). That is close to the typical suburb in Marlborough District ($550), and slightly below the national median ($600).
| April–June 2026 | Waitohi (Marlborough District) | New Zealand |
|---|---|---|
| Median weekly rent, new tenancies | $550 | $600 |
| Middle half of rents | $460–$600 | $490–$700 |
| Change in median on a year earlier | +5.8% | +0.2% |
| Bonds lodged in the quarter | 30 | 40,827 |
Schools and hospitals near Picton
LINZ maps 2 school sites inside Picton, among them Picton School (Contributing) and Queen Charlotte College (Secondary (Year 7-15)).
- Picton School (Contributing)
- Queen Charlotte College (Secondary (Year 7-15))
- Nearest school: Picton School (0.3 km)
- Nearest secondary school: Queen Charlotte College (2.5 km)
- Nearest public general hospital: Wairau Hospital (27.1 km)
School enrolment zones in Picton: a guide
One secondary school has a home zone covering most of Picton's titles: Queen Charlotte College.
- Waikawa Bay School (primary, Years 1–6): about 15% of titles
- Queen Charlotte College (Year 7-8) (secondary): all or nearly all titles
- Queen Charlotte College (Year 9-15) (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 Picton
OpenStreetMap maps 5 places of worship inside Picton (5 Christian).
Nearest mapped place of each tradition within 10 km:
- Christian: Holy Trinity, 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
- Blenheim: 664 cross-lease titles (18.2%)
- Redwoodtown: 499 cross-lease titles (19.8%)
- Witherlea: 400 cross-lease titles (14.5%)
- 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 Picton
The closest match on the measures on this site is Waikawa, Marlborough District in Marlborough District, nearest on distance to the coast, children, commuting by public transport. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Waikawa, Marlborough District | Marlborough District | 4.8% | No data | 58.8 | distance to the coast, children, commuting by public transport |
| Geraldine | Timaru District | 5.3% | $470 | 53.2 | schools, born overseas, population change |
| Westshore | Napier City | 10.6% | No data | 52.7 | land per flat, born overseas, distance to the coast |
| Temuka | Timaru District | 5.9% | $450 | 50 | household income, commuting by public transport, population change |
| Whitianga | Thames-Coromandel District | 3.8% | $580 | 52.9 | home ownership, degrees, distance to the coast |
Questions
What is the rent in Picton?
New tenancies in Waitohi (Marlborough District) (the rent area for part of Picton) had a median rent of $550 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 $460 to $600.
What schools are in Picton?
LINZ maps 2 school sites inside Picton: Picton School and Queen Charlotte College. The nearest secondary school to its centre is Queen Charlotte College (2.5 km in a straight line). The secondary-school home zone covering most of its titles is Queen Charlotte College; check the school's own zone map for any address.