Every fifth real estate in Latvia is standing empty. According to the Central Statistical Office, about 20.9% of all property in the country is not occupied by tenants. Thus, in 2011 more than one million units of real estate have had their permanent homeowners, according to varianti.lv.
The largest number of vacant housing is fixed in Latgale (23.4%). The situation in Riga is other: 55,000 housing units, or 16.8% of the total number of residential properties, are empty.
In some measure the situation is caused by the fact that a sizeable part of the property is owned by foreigners (20%, according to the State Land Service of Latvia). Thus, every fifth property stands empty most of the time, because foreigners visit Latvia periodically.