The beautiful Kapiti Coast District is located 50 minutes drive north of New Zealand's capital city, Wellington.
Wellington is a thriving and culturally-diverse city at the bottom of the country's North Island.
The Kapiti Coast District Council's neighbouring authority to the south is Porirua City Council and Horowhenua District Council to the north.
The District is settled around the coastline townships of Paekakariki, Raumati, Paraparaumu, Waikanae and Otaki. The major commercial and retail centre is Paraparaumu and its distinct rural areas - Te Horo, Waitohu and the Hautere Plains - are intermingled with the township settlements to the north.
Kapiti has had around 400 new dwellings built annually since 2001, and has a mix of large rural holdings and small lifestyle properties.
It is popular for:
• lifestyle factors such as environment and climate
• proximity to major employment centres
• relatively low cost housing (the average price of houses sold in the year to January 2004 was $198,100).
Environment
The Kapiti District covers 40 kilometres of coastal plain. Its natural boundary to the east is the Tararua Ranges and to the west the Tasman Sea. The District strongly identifies with Kapiti Island, a national wildlife sanctuary, which is located five kilometres offshore from Paraparaumu.
Population
The Kapiti Coast District had a usually resident population of 46,200 at the time of the last Census on March 6, 2006.
It is one of the fastest growing population areas in New Zealand. Usually resident population increased by 8.8% from 2001 to 2006 following a 10.0% increase in the 1996 to 2001 period. This compares with population growth of 5.9% for the Wellington Region and 7.8% for New Zealand over the 2001 t0 2006 period.
For a detailed analysis of population, age, marital status and other demographic information see the Community Profile.
Trends and detailed statistics are also available.
Economy
Apart from the significant rural sectors, major contributors to the economy are the retail trade and tourism, house construction and related trades, education, aged care and some niche manufacturing industries.
The retail sector led employment with 20.8%, followed by construction 12.5%, health and community services 11.6%, and property and business services 10.1%.
The Kapiti Coast District Council and Horowhenua District Council jointly fund NatureCoast®, an economic development agency for the combined region.
The District's gross domestic product in the year ended March 2003 was an estimated $721 million, representing 0.6% of the New Zealand economy. The largest contributors were finance and business services (including property services), retail trade, construction and manufacturing.
Kapiti has had a shift in land use to more diverse horticultural uses such as grapes, olives, feijoas, asparagus and nashi pears ventures alongside the more traditional market gardening pursuits.
It also has a small but growing tourism sector with activity-based ventures including trips to Kapiti Island and ventures based around Paraparaumu Airport and the river and forest parks at Otaki Forks and Maungakotukutuku Valley.