Living in Tawa: rents, schools, census and property titles
The 5,584 live property titles in Tawa, Wellington City are almost all freehold (84%), as recorded by LINZ on 30 September 2026. Cross-lease titles number 380 (6.8%), below the national share of 8.7%.
- Cross-lease titles
- 380
- Share of live titles
- 6.8%
- Live titles in total
- 5,584
- Wellington City share
- 5.6%
- New Zealand share
- 8.7%
- Rank by share in Wellington City
- 15 of 32
- Rank by share in New Zealand
- joint 413 of 644
Tawa at a glance
Higher or lower is not better or worse. Sources and limits
Start here
What the data tells you
Recorded facts
- Tawa is listed under Wellington City.
- 5,584 live titles are recorded here, including 380 cross-lease titles (6.8%).
- 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 6.8% of the recorded title mix. That describes the suburb, not any particular home.
- Unit titles account for 6.8% 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 Tawa
| Title type | Live titles | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Freehold | 4,712 | 84.4% |
| Cross lease | 380 | 6.8% |
| Unit title | 380 | 6.8% |
| Leasehold | 68 | 1.2% |
| Other record types | 44 | 0.8% |
| Total | 5,584 | 100% |
Counts are titles, not homes; the register can lag conversions, so check the certificate of title. Sources and limits
How Tawa compares
Nationally, 8.7% of live titles are cross-lease; Tawa is lower than the national share (8.7%).
Across Wellington City as a whole, the share is 5.6%; Tawa is higher than the overall Wellington City share (5.6%).
How cross-leases in Tawa are set up
Separate exclusive-use areas are less common (3% of schemes, against 5% nationally).
Fewer leases include a garage (20% of schemes, against 28% nationally).
Fewer schemes refer to more than one flats plan (27%, against 36% nationally), usually because a plan was redrawn.
| Scheme structure | Tawa | Wellington City | New Zealand |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cross-lease schemes (shared sections) | 162 | 2,130 | 87,651 |
| Two-flat schemes | 75.9% | 82.4% | 76.2% |
| Three-flat schemes | 14.8% | 6.7% | 12.2% |
| Four or more flats | 8.6% | 10.4% | 11.4% |
| Typical section size (from the titles, not a survey) | 832 m² | 759 m² | 908 m² |
| Typical land per flat | 404 m² | 350 m² | 408 m² |
| Schemes with a garage written into a lease | 19.8% | 18.0% | 28.4% |
| Schemes with a carport in a lease | 12.3% | 8.1% | 13.3% |
| Schemes with a separate exclusive-use area | 3.1% | 4.3% | 4.5% |
| Schemes referring to more than one flats plan (usually redrawn; not by itself a problem) | 26.5% | 22.5% | 35.6% |
| Median year of earliest current title | 1989 | 1987 | 1988 |
| Two-flat schemes on 700 m² or more | 100 | 991 | 54,978 |
Unit titles and leasehold in Tawa
Unit titles are 7% of Tawa's titles, well below Wellington City (25%) and slightly below New Zealand (8%). They belong to 37 developments, each run by a body corporate; 2 have 50 or more units.
68 titles (1.2%) are leasehold, close to the national share (1.2%).
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 | 0 |
| More than 50 years left | 61 |
| Term mentions renewal (including perpetually renewable) | 7 |
| Term not stated or not readable | 0 |
New titles in Tawa since 2020
441 of Tawa's current titles (8%) were first issued since 2020, close to Wellington City's suburbs with new-title figures taken together (8%) and well below New Zealand (12%).
That rate is in the highest quarter of 31 in Wellington City.
27% are unit titles, in 4 developments; most of the rest are freehold.
| Title type | Since 2020 | Since 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Freehold | 307 | 180 |
| Unit title | 120 | 85 |
| Cross-lease | 5 | 3 |
| Leasehold | 6 | 0 |
| Other | 3 | 2 |
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 Tawa
The typical building in Tawa stands on ground sloping 7.1° (read on an 8 m grid, so short steep banks may be understated).
The land rises from about 9 m to 257 m, and 44% 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 Tawa
Tawa is inland: the typical title is 4.3 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 Tawa: 2023 Census
Tawa's titles fall in 6 census areas (Stats NZ statistical areas). The 4 shown below hold 88% of its titles; their figures are shown side by side and are not added together.
Fewer workers walk or cycle to work in Tawa South than across Wellington City: 2.9% against 19.8%.
Fewer households have no car in Tawa South than across Wellington City: 3.3% against 15.2%.
Fewer people live alone in Tawa South than across Wellington City: 13.0% against 24.1%.
| Measure | Tawa South 24% of titles | Tawa Central 23% of titles | Linden 22% of titles | Tawa North 19% of titles | Wellington City whole council |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Usual residents | 3,435 | 2,703 | 3,324 | 3,192 | 202,689 |
| Change since 2018 | +0.3% | +2.3% | +2.0% | +0.1% | −0.0% |
| Change since 2013 | +4.1% | +4.4% | +9.2% | +6.1% | +6.1% |
| Median age | 39.5 | 37.3 | 34.2 | 35.7 | 34.9 |
| Households | 1,131 | 1,023 | 1,179 | 1,056 | 77,004 |
| Own or part-own their home (including family trusts) | 82.0% | 68.3% | 57.8% | 66.2% | 58.6% |
| Not owned and not in a family trust (mostly renting) | 18.0% | 32.3% | 42.5% | 34.1% | 41.4% |
| Median household income | $150,500 | $111,900 | $103,200 | $127,300 | $134,500 |
| Median weekly rent, renting households | $600 | $550 | $480 | $520 | $560 |
| Dwellings unoccupied on census night | 3.3% | 6.5% | 4.3% | 3.8% | 7.8% |
| Ages | |||||
| Under 15 | 17.4% | 19.1% | 20.9% | 21.1% | 14.4% |
| 15 to 29 | 18.4% | 18.2% | 20.7% | 19.0% | 27.2% |
| 30 to 64 | 48.9% | 47.1% | 47.9% | 49.2% | 46.8% |
| 65 and over | 15.3% | 15.8% | 10.4% | 10.7% | 11.7% |
| Where people came from | |||||
| Born overseas | 31.2% | 33.4% | 33.5% | 33.1% | 34.6% |
| Of those born overseas, arrived in the last 5 years | 18.1% | 22.3% | 21.4% | 17.9% | 23.2% |
| Lived elsewhere in New Zealand 5 years ago (of all residents, including children born since) | 32.8% | 38.0% | 40.6% | 34.1% | 44.2% |
| Lived overseas 5 years ago (of all residents) | 4.2% | 5.0% | 5.0% | 3.7% | 5.4% |
| Moved here in the last year (of all residents) | 13.1% | 17.5% | 18.2% | 15.0% | 24.0% |
| Work and study (people 15 and over) | |||||
| Bachelor degree or higher | 38.9% | 36.5% | 31.1% | 34.3% | 48.6% |
| Employed full-time | 57.1% | 57.8% | 53.8% | 59.7% | 59.0% |
| Unemployed (share of everyone 15 and over, not the unemployment rate) | 2.4% | 2.6% | 4.6% | 2.5% | 3.0% |
| Managers and professionals (of those employed) | 57.4% | 51.5% | 47.4% | 49.4% | 59.5% |
| Median personal income | $55,700 | $51,600 | $44,100 | $51,700 | $55,500 |
| Getting to work (of those employed) | |||||
| Work from home | 22.9% | 19.1% | 16.8% | 17.1% | 18.7% |
| Car, truck or van | 50.5% | 47.5% | 57.7% | 59.1% | 39.0% |
| Bus, train or ferry | 22.6% | 26.8% | 22.9% | 20.0% | 20.0% |
| Walk or cycle | 2.9% | 5.2% | 2.1% | 2.0% | 19.8% |
| Households and families | |||||
| One-person households | 13.0% | 26.5% | 22.2% | 17.1% | 24.1% |
| Average people per household | 2.9 | 2.6 | 2.8 | 3 | 2.6 |
| Households with no motor vehicle | 3.3% | 9.2% | 10.7% | 7.2% | 15.2% |
| Crowded households (need one or more extra bedrooms) | 2.2% | 5.1% | 8.8% | 6.1% | 5.0% |
| Couples with children (of families) | 53.2% | 47.9% | 48.6% | 49.1% | 43.0% |
| Couples without children | 36.6% | 34.9% | 28.7% | 32.1% | 44.8% |
| One-parent families | 10.5% | 17.2% | 23.0% | 18.8% | 12.2% |
| Homes | |||||
| Separate (stand-alone) houses | 87.6% | 69.4% | 70.1% | 86.1% | 59.7% |
| Average bedrooms | 3.6 | 3 | 2.9 | 3.3 | 2.8 |
| Heated with a heat pump | 63.9% | 61.2% | 69.7% | 65.8% | 53.6% |
| Damp, always or sometimes | 17.5% | 22.6% | 23.9% | 25.9% | 22.9% |
| Mould over A4 size, always or sometimes | 15.1% | 15.2% | 19.5% | 18.8% | 16.1% |
Rents around Tawa
New tenancies in Tawa South in the April–June 2026 quarter had a median rent of $640 a week (down 8.6% on a year earlier). That is close to the typical suburb in Wellington City ($625), and close to the national median ($600).
| April–June 2026 | Tawa South 24% of titles | Tawa Central 23% of titles | Linden 22% of titles | New Zealand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Median weekly rent, new tenancies | $640 | $675 | $640 | $600 |
| Middle half of rents | $630–$740 | $640–$715 | $600–$718 | $490–$700 |
| Change in median on a year earlier | −8.6% | −1.9% | +6.7% | +0.2% |
| Bonds lodged in the quarter | 27 | 15 | 21 | 40,827 |
Schools and hospitals near Tawa
LINZ maps 9 school sites inside Tawa, among them Greenacres School (Contributing) and Hampton Hill School (Contributing).
- Greenacres School (Contributing)
- Hampton Hill School (Contributing)
- He Huarahi Tamariki (Teen Parent Unit)
- Linden School (Contributing)
- Redwood School (Tawa) (Contributing)
- St Francis Xavier School (Tawa) (Contributing)
- Tawa College (Secondary (Year 9-15))
- Tawa Intermediate (Intermediate)
- Tawa School (Full Primary)
- Nearest school: Tawa School (0.4 km)
- Nearest secondary school: Tawa College (0.6 km)
- Nearest public general hospital: Kenepuru Hospital (2.7 km)
School enrolment zones in Tawa: a guide
Three secondary schools have a home zone covering most of Tawa's titles: Hutt International Boys School, St Oran's College and Tawa College.
- Hampton Hill School (primary, Years 1–6): about 25% of titles
- Redwood School (Tawa) (primary, Years 1–6): about 25% of titles
- Greenacres School (primary, Years 1–6): about 10% of titles
- Tawa School (primary, Years 1–8): about 25% of titles
- Tawa Intermediate (intermediate, Years 7–8): 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
- Tawa 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
Public transport in Tawa
97% of Tawa's titles are within 400 m of a stop with a scheduled weekday service, close to Wellington City as a whole (96%).
14% are that close to a frequent stop (60 or more departures that day), well below the council (69%); in the lowest quarter of 32 in Wellington City.
81% are within 800 m of a train station or ferry wharf.
The typical title is 144 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 Tawa
OpenStreetMap maps 10 places of worship inside Tawa (9 Christian, 1 Muslim).
Nearest mapped place of each tradition within 10 km:
- Christian: Tawa Samoan Assembly of God, under 1 km away
- Hindu: Kurinji Kumaran Temple, 5.9 km away
- Muslim: Tawa Islamic Centre, under 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%)
- Karori: 469 cross-lease titles (7.9%)
- 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 Tawa
The closest match on the measures on this site is Johnsonville in Wellington City, nearest on new titles, distance to the coast, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Johnsonville | Wellington City | 13.1% | $685 | 37 | new titles, distance to the coast, population change |
| Karori | Wellington City | 7.9% | No data | 38.8 | distance to the coast, unit-title share, median age |
| Silverstream | Upper Hutt City | 10.8% | $740 | 42.3 | population change, stand-alone houses, heat pumps |
| Paparangi, Wellington City | Wellington City | 5.5% | $650 | 36.3 | rent, commuting on foot or by bike, distance to the coast |
| Khandallah | Wellington City | 6.6% | $735 | 41.6 | unit-title share, cross-lease share, damp homes |
Questions
What is the rent in Tawa?
New tenancies in Tawa South (the rent area for part of Tawa) had a median rent of $640 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 $630 to $740.
What schools are in Tawa?
LINZ maps 9 school sites inside Tawa, including Greenacres School, Hampton Hill School and He Huarahi Tamariki. The nearest secondary school to its centre is Tawa College (0.6 km in a straight line). Secondary-school home zones covering most of its titles are Hutt International Boys School, St Oran's College and Tawa College; check the school's own zone map for any address.