Living in Karori: schools, census and property titles
The 5,915 live property titles in Karori, Wellington City are almost all freehold (82%), as recorded by LINZ on 30 September 2026. Cross-lease titles number 469 (7.9%), slightly below the national share of 8.7%.
- Cross-lease titles
- 469
- Share of live titles
- 7.9%
- Live titles in total
- 5,915
- Wellington City share
- 5.6%
- New Zealand share
- 8.7%
- Rank by share in Wellington City
- 13 of 32
- Rank by share in New Zealand
- joint 387 of 644
Karori at a glance
Where Karori differs most from suburbs across New Zealand: median slope under buildings (higher than 92% of NZ suburbs).
Higher or lower is not better or worse. Sources and limits
Start here
What the data tells you
Recorded facts
- Karori is listed under Wellington City.
- 5,915 live titles are recorded here, including 469 cross-lease titles (7.9%).
- The page includes 2023 Census context for the statistical area that represents this suburb.
Contextual observations
- Cross-lease titles make up 7.9% of the recorded title mix. That describes the suburb, not any particular home.
- Unit titles account for 6.4% of recorded titles, so title structure can vary within the suburb.
- Public-transport figures describe how recorded titles sit near mapped stops. They do not describe a service from a particular property.
- 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.
Title mix in Karori
| Title type | Live titles | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Freehold | 4,847 | 81.9% |
| Cross lease | 469 | 7.9% |
| Unit title | 379 | 6.4% |
| Leasehold | 121 | 2.0% |
| Other record types | 99 | 1.7% |
| Total | 5,915 | 100% |
Counts are titles, not homes; the register can lag conversions, so check the certificate of title. Sources and limits
How Karori compares
Nationally, 8.7% of live titles are cross-lease; Karori is slightly lower than the national share (8.7%).
Across Wellington City as a whole, the share is 5.6%; Karori is higher than the overall Wellington City share (5.6%).
How cross-leases in Karori are set up
Three-flat schemes are less common here (4%, against 12% nationally).
Fewer schemes refer to more than one flats plan (22%, against 36% nationally), usually because a plan was redrawn.
Fewer schemes have four or more flats on one section (8%, against 11% nationally), up to 24.
| Scheme structure | Karori | Wellington City | New Zealand |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cross-lease schemes (shared sections) | 216 | 2,130 | 87,651 |
| Two-flat schemes | 87.5% | 82.4% | 76.2% |
| Three-flat schemes | 4.2% | 6.7% | 12.2% |
| Four or more flats | 8.3% | 10.4% | 11.4% |
| Typical section size (from the titles, not a survey) | 770 m² | 759 m² | 908 m² |
| Typical land per flat | 367 m² | 350 m² | 408 m² |
| Schemes with a garage written into a lease | 21.3% | 18.0% | 28.4% |
| Schemes with a carport in a lease | 12.0% | 8.1% | 13.3% |
| Schemes with a separate exclusive-use area | 4.6% | 4.3% | 4.5% |
| Schemes referring to more than one flats plan (usually redrawn; not by itself a problem) | 21.8% | 22.5% | 35.6% |
| Median year of earliest current title | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 |
| Two-flat schemes on 700 m² or more | 113 | 991 | 54,978 |
Unit titles and leasehold in Karori
Unit titles are 6% of Karori's titles, well below Wellington City (25%) and below New Zealand (8%). They belong to 92 developments, each run by a body corporate; half have 2 units or fewer.
121 titles (2.0%) are leasehold.
Most stated terms have more than 50 years to run.
Stated lease terms, as at 30 September 2026:
| Stated lease term | Titles |
|---|---|
| Stated term has ended | 0 |
| Under 10 years left | 0 |
| 10 to 50 years left | 2 |
| More than 50 years left | 108 |
| Term mentions renewal (including perpetually renewable) | 11 |
| Term not stated or not readable | 0 |
New titles in Karori since 2020
287 of Karori's current titles (5%) were first issued since 2020, well below Wellington City's suburbs with new-title figures taken together (8%) and well below New Zealand (12%).
36% are unit titles, in 11 developments; most of the rest are freehold.
| Title type | Since 2020 | Since 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Freehold | 165 | 106 |
| Unit title | 102 | 67 |
| Cross-lease | 7 | 3 |
| Leasehold | 2 | 1 |
| Other | 11 | 8 |
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 Karori
The typical building in Karori stands on ground sloping 8.1° (read on an 8 m grid, so short steep banks may be understated).
About 19% of its 6,839 measured buildings stand on ground of 15° or more.
The land rises from about 62 m to 391 m, and 71% 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 Karori
Karori is inland: the typical title is 3.6 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 Karori: 2023 Census
Karori's titles fall in 6 census areas (Stats NZ statistical areas). The 4 shown below hold 82% of its titles; their figures are shown side by side and are not added together.
Fewer households have no car in Karori South than across Wellington City: 6.2% against 15.2%.
Fewer workers walk or cycle to work in Karori South than across Wellington City: 11.2% against 19.8%.
Fewer people live alone in Karori South than across Wellington City: 17.3% against 24.1%.
| Measure | Karori South 23% of titles | Karori East 21% of titles | Karori West 19% of titles | Karori North 18% of titles | Wellington City whole council |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Usual residents | 3,462 | 3,459 | 2,718 | 2,568 | 202,689 |
| Change since 2018 | −5.7% | −2.9% | −1.5% | −0.8% | −0.0% |
| Change since 2013 | +0.8% | −2.4% | +2.6% | +0.6% | +6.1% |
| Median age | 38.8 | 43.6 | 36.1 | 41 | 34.9 |
| Households | 1,221 | 1,215 | 1,014 | 936 | 77,004 |
| Own or part-own their home (including family trusts) | 78.1% | 78.0% | 65.4% | 76.9% | 58.6% |
| Not owned and not in a family trust (mostly renting) | 21.6% | 21.7% | 34.6% | 23.1% | 41.4% |
| Median household income | $157,500 | $175,800 | $121,400 | $166,500 | $134,500 |
| Median weekly rent, renting households | $640 | $600 | $550 | $650 | $560 |
| Dwellings unoccupied on census night | 6.4% | 6.0% | 7.1% | 6.5% | 7.8% |
| Ages | |||||
| Under 15 | 16.6% | 17.0% | 20.0% | 17.2% | 14.4% |
| 15 to 29 | 23.8% | 19.0% | 21.1% | 21.1% | 27.2% |
| 30 to 64 | 47.1% | 45.3% | 47.6% | 46.7% | 46.8% |
| 65 and over | 12.4% | 18.7% | 11.5% | 14.8% | 11.7% |
| Where people came from | |||||
| Born overseas | 36.3% | 29.2% | 39.4% | 32.9% | 34.6% |
| Of those born overseas, arrived in the last 5 years | 14.7% | 20.1% | 18.1% | 20.4% | 23.2% |
| Lived elsewhere in New Zealand 5 years ago (of all residents, including children born since) | 33.9% | 33.0% | 36.5% | 33.6% | 44.2% |
| Lived overseas 5 years ago (of all residents) | 4.2% | 3.8% | 4.9% | 4.9% | 5.4% |
| Moved here in the last year (of all residents) | 17.2% | 15.5% | 17.2% | 18.2% | 24.0% |
| Work and study (people 15 and over) | |||||
| Bachelor degree or higher | 54.9% | 59.7% | 48.5% | 61.0% | 48.6% |
| Employed full-time | 56.5% | 52.1% | 58.3% | 58.0% | 59.0% |
| Unemployed (share of everyone 15 and over, not the unemployment rate) | 2.3% | 1.9% | 3.3% | 2.0% | 3.0% |
| Managers and professionals (of those employed) | 64.2% | 69.1% | 58.5% | 69.1% | 59.5% |
| Median personal income | $59,400 | $61,700 | $52,200 | $65,400 | $55,500 |
| Getting to work (of those employed) | |||||
| Work from home | 21.3% | 21.4% | 19.0% | 19.7% | 18.7% |
| Car, truck or van | 38.9% | 41.8% | 42.6% | 40.4% | 39.0% |
| Bus, train or ferry | 26.2% | 19.3% | 27.1% | 23.6% | 20.0% |
| Walk or cycle | 11.2% | 15.1% | 8.3% | 12.2% | 19.8% |
| Households and families | |||||
| One-person households | 17.3% | 20.8% | 21.5% | 19.4% | 24.1% |
| Average people per household | 2.8 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.6 |
| Households with no motor vehicle | 6.2% | 5.8% | 10.8% | 7.2% | 15.2% |
| Crowded households (need one or more extra bedrooms) | 3.2% | 3.0% | 5.4% | 1.9% | 5.0% |
| Couples with children (of families) | 49.1% | 54.8% | 47.5% | 50.0% | 43.0% |
| Couples without children | 39.0% | 35.0% | 38.4% | 39.9% | 44.8% |
| One-parent families | 11.6% | 10.2% | 14.0% | 10.9% | 12.2% |
| Homes | |||||
| Separate (stand-alone) houses | 77.6% | 82.3% | 72.9% | 77.0% | 59.7% |
| Average bedrooms | 3.2 | 3.3 | 2.9 | 3.3 | 2.8 |
| Heated with a heat pump | 61.3% | 50.4% | 64.0% | 51.6% | 53.6% |
| Damp, always or sometimes | 22.2% | 21.4% | 32.9% | 21.1% | 22.9% |
| Mould over A4 size, always or sometimes | 16.3% | 12.5% | 23.8% | 15.0% | 16.1% |
Schools and hospitals near Karori
LINZ maps 4 school sites inside Karori, among them Karori Normal School (Full Primary) and Karori West Normal School (Full Primary).
- Karori Normal School (Full Primary)
- Karori West Normal School (Full Primary)
- Samuel Marsden Collegiate School (Composite)
- St Teresa's School (Karori) (Full Primary)
- Nearest school: St Teresa's School (Karori) (0.5 km)
- Nearest secondary school: Samuel Marsden Collegiate School (1.1 km)
- Nearest public general hospital: Wellington Hospital (4.4 km)
School enrolment zones in Karori: a guide
Five secondary schools have a home zone covering most of Karori's titles, among them Hutt International Boys School, St Oran's College and Wellington College.
- Karori Normal School (primary, Years 1–8): about 60% of titles
- Karori West Normal School (primary, Years 1–8): about 40% of titles
- Hutt International Boys School (secondary): all or nearly all titles
- St Oran's College (secondary): all or nearly all titles
- Wellington College (secondary): all or nearly all titles
- Wellington Girls' College (secondary): all or nearly all titles
- Wellington High School & Com Ed Centre (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
Public transport in Karori
89% of Karori's titles are within 400 m of a stop with a scheduled weekday service, slightly below Wellington City as a whole (96%).
53% are that close to a frequent stop (60 or more departures that day), below the council (69%).
The typical title is 147 m in a straight line from its nearest stop.
Timetable of Wednesday 30 September 2026, Metlink (Greater Wellington Regional Council). Sources and limits
Places of worship near Karori
OpenStreetMap maps 7 places of worship inside Karori (7 Christian).
Nearest mapped place of each tradition within 10 km:
- Christian: St Teresa's Parish - Karori, under 1 km away
- Hindu: ISKCON Wellington Newlands Temple, 9.8 km away
- Buddhist: Mountains and Rivers Order Zen, 3.6 km away
- Muslim: Muslims Students Association Prayer Rooms, 2.9 km away
- Jewish: Wellington Progressive Jewish Congregation, 3.1 km away
Listed as facilities for access; not an indicator of who lives here. Sources and limits
Other suburbs in Wellington City with many cross-leases
- Johnsonville: 616 cross-lease titles (13.1%)
- Tawa: 380 cross-lease titles (6.8%)
- Miramar: 335 cross-lease titles (8.8%)
- Newlands: 328 cross-lease titles (10.5%)
- Churton Park: 271 cross-lease titles (9.2%)
- Khandallah: 230 cross-lease titles (6.6%)
- Woodridge: 186 cross-lease titles (25.4%)
- Lyall Bay: 166 cross-lease titles (11.7%)
All suburbs in Wellington City
Suburbs like Karori
The closest match on the measures on this site is Khandallah in Wellington City, nearest on unit-title share, working from home, population change. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Khandallah | Wellington City | 6.6% | $735 | 41.6 | unit-title share, working from home, population change |
| Ngaio | Wellington City | 7.0% | $625 | 41.9 | unit-title share, commuting by public transport, children |
| Johnsonville | Wellington City | 13.1% | $685 | 37 | land per flat, damp homes, near a frequent stop |
| Paparangi, Wellington City | Wellington City | 5.5% | $650 | 36.3 | slope, distance to the coast, unit-title share |
| Island Bay | Wellington City | 4.9% | $723 | 39.2 | land per flat, older residents, median age |
Questions
What schools are in Karori?
LINZ maps 4 school sites inside Karori, including Karori Normal School, Karori West Normal School and Samuel Marsden Collegiate School. The nearest secondary school to its centre is Samuel Marsden Collegiate School (1.1 km in a straight line). Secondary-school home zones covering most of its titles include Hutt International Boys School, St Oran's College and Wellington College; check the school's own zone map for any address.