Living in Mount Cook: rents, schools, census and property titles
The 2,618 live property titles in Mount Cook, Wellington City are mostly unit title (60%), as recorded by LINZ on 30 September 2026. Cross-lease titles number 31 (1.2%), well below the national share of 8.7%.
- Cross-lease titles
- 31
- Share of live titles
- 1.2%
- Live titles in total
- 2,618
- Wellington City share
- 5.6%
- New Zealand share
- 8.7%
- Rank by share in Wellington City
- 32 of 32
- Rank by share in New Zealand
- joint 632 of 644
Mount Cook at a glance
Where Mount Cook differs most from suburbs across New Zealand: median weekly rent, new tenancies (lower than 99% of NZ suburbs); median age (lower than 99% of NZ suburbs); homes with a heat pump (lower than 99% of NZ suburbs).
Higher or lower is not better or worse. Sources and limits
Start here
What the data tells you
Recorded facts
- Mount Cook is listed under Wellington City.
- 2,618 live titles are recorded here, including 31 cross-lease titles (1.2%).
- 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 1.2% of the recorded title mix. That describes the suburb, not any particular home.
- Unit titles account for 60.1% 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
- The core title, Census, rent, transport and coast measures used by this page are available.
Title mix in Mount Cook
| Title type | Live titles | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Freehold | 918 | 35.1% |
| Cross lease | 31 | 1.2% |
| Unit title | 1,574 | 60.1% |
| Leasehold | 7 | 0.3% |
| Other record types | 88 | 3.4% |
| Total | 2,618 | 100% |
Counts are titles, not homes; the register can lag conversions, so check the certificate of title. Sources and limits
How Mount Cook compares
Nationally, 8.7% of live titles are cross-lease; Mount Cook is well below the national share (8.7%).
Across Wellington City as a whole, the share is 5.6%; Mount Cook is well below the overall Wellington City share (5.6%).
Its cross-lease share is the lowest of 32 in Wellington City (among suburbs with an indexed page on this site).
How cross-leases in Mount Cook are set up
Less land per flat than is typical in New Zealand: about 178 m² per flat, against 408 m².
Carports appear in fewer leases (8% of schemes, against 13% nationally).
Separate exclusive-use areas are more common (8% of schemes, against 5% nationally).
| Scheme structure | Mount Cook | Wellington City | New Zealand |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cross-lease schemes (shared sections) | 13 | 2,130 | 87,651 |
| Two-flat schemes | 76.9% | 82.4% | 76.2% |
| Three-flat schemes | 15.4% | 6.7% | 12.2% |
| Four or more flats | 7.7% | 10.4% | 11.4% |
| Typical section size (from the titles, not a survey) | 384 m² | 759 m² | 908 m² |
| Typical land per flat | 178 m² | 350 m² | 408 m² |
| Schemes with a garage written into a lease | 0.0% | 18.0% | 28.4% |
| Schemes with a carport in a lease | 7.7% | 8.1% | 13.3% |
| Schemes with a separate exclusive-use area | 7.7% | 4.3% | 4.5% |
| Schemes referring to more than one flats plan (usually redrawn; not by itself a problem) | 0.0% | 22.5% | 35.6% |
| Median year of earliest current title | 1988 | 1987 | 1988 |
| Two-flat schemes on 700 m² or more | 0 | 991 | 54,978 |
Unit titles and leasehold in Mount Cook
Unit titles are 60% of Mount Cook's titles, well above Wellington City (25%) and well above New Zealand (8%). They belong to 87 developments, each run by a body corporate; 10 have 50 or more units.
The unit-title share is the highest of 32 in Wellington City.
New titles in Mount Cook since 2020
311 of Mount Cook's current titles (12%) were first issued since 2020, well above Wellington City's suburbs with new-title figures taken together (8%) and close to New Zealand (12%).
That rate is the highest of 31 in Wellington City.
Most are unit titles: 275 in 8 developments (apartments, terraces or townhouses under a body corporate).
| Title type | Since 2020 | Since 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Freehold | 26 | 14 |
| Unit title | 275 | 134 |
| Cross-lease | 0 | 0 |
| Leasehold | 2 | 0 |
| Other | 8 | 4 |
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 Mount Cook
The typical building in Mount Cook stands on ground sloping 7.9° (read on an 8 m grid, so short steep banks may be understated).
About 19% of its 1,201 measured buildings stand on ground of 15° or more.
Slope is not a measure of ground stability. Sources and limits
Distance to the coast from Mount Cook
Mount Cook is inland: the typical title is 1.5 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 Mount Cook: 2023 Census
Mount Cook's titles fall in 3 census areas (Stats NZ statistical areas). The 3 shown below hold 100% of its titles; their figures are shown side by side and are not added together.
Fewer residents are children under 15 in Mount Cook East than across Wellington City: 4.5% against 14.4%.
Fewer residents are 65 or over in Mount Cook East than across Wellington City: 4.2% against 11.7%.
Fewer homes are stand-alone houses in Mount Cook East than across Wellington City: 24.3% against 59.7%.
| Measure | Mount Cook East 47% of titles | Mount Cook North 36% of titles | Mount Cook South 17% of titles | Wellington City whole council |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Usual residents | 2,646 | 2,964 | 1,077 | 202,689 |
| Change since 2018 | +0.3% | −3.4% | −6.8% | −0.0% |
| Change since 2013 | +8.4% | −3.0% | −2.4% | +6.1% |
| Median age | 25.6 | 27.3 | 28.5 | 34.9 |
| Households | 984 | 1,326 | 390 | 77,004 |
| Own or part-own their home (including family trusts) | 26.9% | 12.0% | 44.6% | 58.6% |
| Not owned and not in a family trust (mostly renting) | 73.1% | 87.8% | 54.6% | 41.4% |
| Median household income | $108,500 | $67,600 | $138,300 | $134,500 |
| Median weekly rent, renting households | $640 | $400 | $700 | $560 |
| Dwellings unoccupied on census night | 15.1% | 8.2% | 7.7% | 7.8% |
| Ages | ||||
| Under 15 | 4.5% | 5.8% | 6.4% | 14.4% |
| 15 to 29 | 59.4% | 51.3% | 47.6% | 27.2% |
| 30 to 64 | 31.9% | 35.4% | 37.6% | 46.8% |
| 65 and over | 4.2% | 7.5% | 8.4% | 11.7% |
| Where people came from | ||||
| Born overseas | 36.4% | 41.8% | 31.5% | 34.6% |
| Of those born overseas, arrived in the last 5 years | 36.3% | 31.2% | 29.5% | 23.2% |
| Lived elsewhere in New Zealand 5 years ago (of all residents, including children born since) | 75.3% | 70.4% | 59.9% | 44.2% |
| Lived overseas 5 years ago (of all residents) | 6.9% | 5.9% | 4.8% | 5.4% |
| Moved here in the last year (of all residents) | 55.2% | 43.2% | 38.3% | 24.0% |
| Work and study (people 15 and over) | ||||
| Bachelor degree or higher | 43.8% | 40.7% | 51.2% | 48.6% |
| Employed full-time | 51.7% | 51.3% | 60.7% | 59.0% |
| Unemployed (share of everyone 15 and over, not the unemployment rate) | 6.9% | 6.5% | 3.9% | 3.0% |
| Managers and professionals (of those employed) | 51.1% | 48.7% | 56.7% | 59.5% |
| Median personal income | $35,100 | $33,200 | $51,300 | $55,500 |
| Getting to work (of those employed) | ||||
| Work from home | 12.3% | 13.4% | 13.3% | 18.7% |
| Car, truck or van | 16.4% | 19.4% | 22.1% | 39.0% |
| Bus, train or ferry | 24.0% | 15.3% | 23.6% | 20.0% |
| Walk or cycle | 43.7% | 49.3% | 38.8% | 19.8% |
| Households and families | ||||
| One-person households | 26.7% | 46.5% | 20.3% | 24.1% |
| Average people per household | 2.5 | 2.1 | 2.7 | 2.6 |
| Households with no motor vehicle | 36.5% | 48.0% | 18.9% | 15.2% |
| Crowded households (need one or more extra bedrooms) | 7.0% | 8.5% | 6.3% | 5.0% |
| Couples with children (of families) | 19.3% | 20.1% | 30.0% | 43.0% |
| Couples without children | 69.3% | 61.7% | 60.0% | 44.8% |
| One-parent families | 10.7% | 18.1% | 8.6% | 12.2% |
| Homes | ||||
| Separate (stand-alone) houses | 24.3% | 10.3% | 60.8% | 59.7% |
| Average bedrooms | 2.5 | 1.9 | 2.8 | 2.8 |
| Heated with a heat pump | 34.5% | 26.9% | 56.7% | 53.6% |
| Damp, always or sometimes | 23.6% | 20.6% | 31.9% | 22.9% |
| Mould over A4 size, always or sometimes | 15.7% | 13.7% | 21.6% | 16.1% |
Rents around Mount Cook
New tenancies in Mount Cook East in the April–June 2026 quarter had a median rent of $350 a week (up 0.0% on a year earlier). That is well below the typical suburb in Wellington City ($625), and well below the national median ($600); the lowest of 27 in Wellington City.
| April–June 2026 | Mount Cook East 47% of titles | Mount Cook West 53% of titles | New Zealand |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median weekly rent, new tenancies | $350 | $460 | $600 |
| Middle half of rents | $205–$590 | $383–$589 | $490–$700 |
| Change in median on a year earlier | +0.0% | −4.2% | +0.2% |
| Bonds lodged in the quarter | 78 | 90 | 40,827 |
Schools and hospitals near Mount Cook
One school site lies inside Mount Cook: Wellington High School and Community Education Centre (Secondary (Year 9-15)).
- Wellington High School and Community Education Centre (Secondary (Year 9-15))
- Nearest school: Wellington High School and Community Education Centre (0.3 km)
- Nearest secondary school: Wellington High School and Community Education Centre (0.3 km)
- Nearest public general hospital: Wellington Hospital (0.8 km)
School enrolment zones in Mount Cook: a guide
Five secondary schools have a home zone covering most of Mount Cook's titles, among them Hutt International Boys School, St Oran's College and Wellington College.
- Newtown School (primary, Years 1–6): about 45% of titles
- Mt Cook School (Wellington) (primary, Years 1–8): all or nearly all 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 East Girls' College (secondary): all or nearly all titles
- Wellington High School & Com Ed Centre (secondary): all or nearly all titles
- Wellington Girls' College (secondary): about 20% of 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 Mount Cook
100% of Mount Cook's titles are within 400 m of a stop with a scheduled weekday service, close to Wellington City as a whole (96%).
100% are that close to a frequent stop (60 or more departures that day), above the council (69%); joint highest of 32 in Wellington City.
The typical title is 129 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 Mount Cook
OpenStreetMap maps 9 places of worship inside Mount Cook (8 Christian, 1 Buddhist).
Nearest mapped place of each tradition within 10 km:
- Christian: St Paul's Lutheran Church, under 1 km away
- Hindu: ISKCON Wellington Newlands Temple, 9.0 km away
- Buddhist: Wellington Buddhist Centre, under 1 km away
- Muslim: Muslims Students Association Prayer Rooms, 1.8 km away
- Jewish: Wellington Progressive Jewish Congregation, 1.3 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%)
- Karori: 469 cross-lease titles (7.9%)
- 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%)
All suburbs in Wellington City
Suburbs like Mount Cook
The closest match on the measures on this site is Grafton in Auckland, nearest on near a stop, near a frequent stop, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grafton | Auckland | 0.9% | $472 | 22.7 | near a stop, near a frequent stop, distance to the coast |
| Mount Victoria | Wellington City | 2.0% | $600 | 32.7 | near a stop, elevation, near a frequent stop |
| Newtown | Wellington City | 3.4% | $578 | 29.1 | distance to the coast, born overseas, working from home |
| Thorndon | Wellington City | 1.7% | $590 | 34.2 | population change, distance to the coast, near a frequent stop |
| Eden Terrace | Auckland | 1.3% | $600 | 33 | older residents, cross-lease share, distance to the coast |
Questions
What is the rent in Mount Cook?
New tenancies in Mount Cook East (the rent area for part of Mount Cook) had a median rent of $350 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 $205 to $590.
What schools are in Mount Cook?
LINZ maps 1 school site inside Mount Cook: Wellington High School and Community Education Centre. The nearest secondary school to its centre is Wellington High School and Community Education Centre (0.3 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.