Featherston, New Zealand

Featherston
Paetūmōkai (Māori)
Fitzherbert Street in Featherston
Fitzherbert Street in Featherston
Map
Coordinates: 41°7′S 175°19′E / 41.117°S 175.317°E / -41.117; 175.317
RegionWellington Region
Territorial authoritySouth Wairarapa District
WardFeatherston Ward
CommunityFeatherston Community[1]
Founded1856
Named forIsaac Featherston
Electorates
Government
 • Territorial AuthoritySouth Wairarapa District Council
 • Regional councilGreater Wellington Regional Council
 • Mayor of South WairarapaMartin Connelly
 • Wairarapa MPMike Butterick
 • Ikaroa-Rāwhiti MPCushla Tangaere-Manuel
Area
 • Total3.19 km2 (1.23 sq mi)
Population
 (June 2024)[3]
 • Total2,760
 • Density870/km2 (2,200/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+12 (NZST)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+13 (NZDT)
Postcode(s)
5710
Area code06

Featherston (Māori: Paetūmōkai[4]) is a town in the South Wairarapa District, in the Wellington Region of New Zealand's North Island. It is at the eastern foothills of Remutaka Range close to the northern shore of Lake Wairarapa, 63 km (39 mi) north-east of central Wellington and 37 km (23 mi) south-west of Masterton.

The town has a population of 2,760 (June 2024).[3] Featherston has increasingly become a satellite town of Wellington since the Remutaka rail tunnel opened in 1955; at the 2006 census, 36% of employed Featherston residents worked in Wellington and the Hutt Valley.[5] This proximity to the capital, coupled with low house prices, made Featherston popular with writers, artists and those with young families, in turn leading to a recent upsurge in business investment and creative activity.[6] From 2014 to 2019, housing prices in Featherston increased by 108% while rental prices went from an average of $140 to $400 in the same time period. [7]

  1. ^ "Featherston Community Board". South Wairarapa District Council. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Area was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b "Aotearoa Data Explorer". Statistics New Zealand. Retrieved 26 October 2024.
  4. ^ "Te Ika-A-Māui tangata whenua place names prior to European settlement" (PDF). Land Information New Zealand. Retrieved 7 September 2024.
  5. ^ "Commuting patterns in Wellington – Commuting patterns in New Zealand, 1996–2006". Statistics New Zealand. Retrieved 18 December 2014.
  6. ^ "Featherston forges ahead – Times Age". Times Age. 6 March 2017. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  7. ^ "How a town changes when house prices double in five years | Stuff.co.nz".