The familiar narrative of a roughly even split between state and private forests does not match the VMD data. Measured by forest compartments, private ownership dominates by a factor of 2.17. Inside the private sector, concentration is extreme: the top 1% of owners holds 44% of the area. We break down the ownership structure across 276,011 cadastres.
TL;DR
- Private ownership in Latvia covers 2,423,963 ha of forest land across 202,206 cadastres — 70% of the country's total registered forest area and 73% of all cadastres.
- The state and municipal sector accounts for 1,049,437 ha across 73,805 cadastres. Measured by the number of forest compartments, private ownership outweighs the state by a factor of 2.17.
- Distribution is highly uneven: the top 1% of private cadastres (2,023 in total) holds 44% of the entire private forest area. The top 10% (20,226 cadastres) holds 69%.
- Vidzeme is the only region in Latvia where state ownership outnumbers private ownership by compartments. In every other region, private holdings outnumber state holdings by a factor of 2.2 to 4.5.
- Institutional capital is already on the market. Ingka Investments acquired 135,232 ha in Latvia in early 2026 in a €720 million transaction that reset the price benchmark for large portfolios.
The "state and private split evenly" myth
The most widespread cliché about Latvian forests is that "roughly half is state-owned (LVM) and half is private". Press releases, media outlets, educational materials, and even some industry reports repeat this. It is partly true if you measure total forest area across the country (around 3.4 million ha, of which LVM manages roughly 1.62 million ha).
But once you look at the State Forest Service (VMD) registry at the level of individual forest compartments and cadastres, the picture changes.
In our sample (Q2 2026 release):
| Ownership type | Compartments | Area, ha | Cadastres | Average cadastre, ha |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Private | 2,090,473 | 2,423,963 | 202,206 | 12.0 |
| State / municipal | 964,389 | 1,049,437 | 73,805 | 14.2 |
By compartments, the split is 68.5% private and 31.5% state. By area, 70/30. By cadastre count, 73/27. None of these ratios is 50/50.
Where does the myth come from? Several reasons. LVM is the largest single forest holder in Europe and dominates public discourse: a single player with 1.6 million ha is far more visible than 200,000 individual owners with 12 ha each. In addition, when statistics describe "the country's total forest area" they often include tracts that are not in active commercial use: nature reserves, national parks, and military land. Once those categories are filtered out, the private sector turns out to be even larger.
By region: Vidzeme is the only exception
When the data is segmented by region, the private-to-state ratio varies drastically:
| Region | Private compartments | State compartments | Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kurzeme | 503,956 | 140,858 | 3.6× |
| Latgale | 460,604 | 107,454 | 4.3× |
| Zemgale | 451,407 | 99,878 | 4.5× |
| Central Latvia (Pierīga) | 352,122 | 160,171 | 2.2× |
| Vidzeme | 322,384 | 456,028 | 0.7× |
Vidzeme stands out as the only region where state ownership exceeds private ownership by compartment count: 456,028 state compartments against 322,384 private. By area the situation is closer to parity (459,872 vs 377,860 ha).
The explanation is historical. Vidzeme is a heavily forested, sparsely populated region with a high share of large contiguous forest tracts that remained in state ownership after the 1990s land reform (some had been seized during the Soviet confiscation and had no private claimants for restitution). The forests of Gauja National Park, the Sigulda massif, and the large tracts around Lubāns are all formally state-owned.
Zemgale and Latgale, by contrast, are regions where the 1990s restitution programme operated at full scale: small plots of 5 to 25 ha were returned to pre-war owners or their heirs. Here the private sector dominates by count.
Concentration: 1% of owners holds 44% of the area
Within the private sector, ownership is distributed very unevenly.
| Private cadastre size, ha | Cadastres | Area, ha | Share of total private area |
|---|---|---|---|
| < 1 | 41,703 | 18,426 | 0.8% |
| 1 – 5 | 84,521 | 226,462 | 9.3% |
| 5 – 10 | 37,411 | 263,650 | 10.9% |
| 10 – 25 | 27,440 | 416,300 | 17.2% |
| 25 – 50 | 6,452 | 218,135 | 9.0% |
| 50 – 100 | 2,064 | 139,690 | 5.8% |
| 100 – 500 | 1,983 | 441,376 | 18.2% |
| 500+ | 632 | 699,924 |
Who the large holders are
Drawing on public transactions and accessible registers, we can describe the structure of the large-holder segment without touching personal data.
The 500+ ha segment, in descending order of share, contains:
The 100 to 500 ha segment is dominated by mid-sized local holdings, sometimes by farming operations that hold 100 to 300 ha of forest as a side asset adjacent to arable land.
In the under-100 ha segment, individual owners dominate: original restitution claimants, their heirs, or recent private buyers (urban professionals and members of the diaspora).
- Institutional foreign investors. Ingka Investments (the investment arm of the IKEA holding) holds 135,232 ha in Latvia following the consolidated acquisition of the Södra/Bergvik portfolio in early 2026. The transaction was valued at €720 million. That is roughly 5.6% of the country's entire private forest area in a single pair of hands.
- Nordic forest products companies. Latvijas Finieris (a plywood group) is the largest Latvian private-sector player and the principal buyer of birch sawlogs. Stora Enso, Metsä, and UPM all operate Latvian SIA subsidiaries.
- Local family holdings. Latvian families that received large parcels through 1990s restitution and then expanded by buying neighbouring cadastres. We do not publish names: identification is possible through Lursoft / the Register of Enterprises, but quoting owners in a blog post without their consent is not appropriate under GDPR.
- Forest-specialised financial intermediaries. Local "forest holdings" operating a buy-improve-sell model: acquire young or low-quality forest, run sanitary fellings, clean up titles, and sell into the institutional segment after 5 to 8 years. There are no more than 10 to 15 such operators in the country, but they show up in every large transaction.
What this means for the typical owner
If you hold 5 to 25 ha (a typical cadastre), you are statistically part of the largest group of Latvian forest owners — but a group that collectively controls less than 30% of the area. Several practical consequences follow:
- Per-hectare prices vary by segment. Institutional buyers (Ingka, Latvijas Finieris) pay a premium for large consolidated portfolios — €4,500 to €5,500 per hectare on a 500+ ha single-lot purchase. An average 10 ha cadastre sells for 1.5 to 2 times less per hectare: €2,800 to €3,800. The discount reflects illiquidity.
- The buyer is very likely better informed than you are. Institutional deals are prepared over months with an inventory specialist, a lawyer, and a forester involved. Buyers of 5 ha plots often follow the same model, just without publicity. The information asymmetry is structural.
- Assembling a portfolio of cadastres takes years. If you want to reach the 100+ ha segment as a seller of a consolidated portfolio, that means 5 to 10 sequential acquisitions of neighbouring plots. The "buy cheap, sell to an institution in 8 years" financial model is realistic, but it requires capital and legal support.
What this means for the buyer
From the perspective of a private investor entering the Latvian forest market, the picture looks like this:
- Entering the mass-market segment is easy, because supply is fragmented: 200 to 400 listings of 5 to 50 ha plots appear every month. Pricing is anchored to Latio reports and similar sources.
- Entering the institutional segment is hard, because supply is thin: the 632 cadastres of 500+ ha turn over slowly, and most large deals happen off-market through direct negotiations. Non-EU investors must also work within Section 28 of the Rural Land Privatisation Law (Lauksaimniecības zemes privatizācijas likums), which since 2023 imposes extended UBO requirements: even an SIA structure must have EU/EEA citizens as ultimate beneficial owners (UBOs) in order to acquire agricultural or forest land directly.
- Regional strategy matters. Kurzeme is the most liquid private market (504k private compartments, low bark-beetle damage concentration). Vidzeme is harder to enter because of state-sector dominance. Latgale offers the lowest per-hectare prices but has thinner haulage infrastructure.
If you find a discrepancy in the registry
Owners sometimes discover that the open VMD data for their cadastre lists compartments they sold long ago, or conversely that a recently acquired plot has not yet appeared. This is normal: the state registry is updated quarterly, and the inventory of any individual compartment is refreshed only once every 8 to 10 years on average. Between updates, the on-the-ground reality and the registry can drift apart.
What to do:
- When buying, always cross-check the Land Book (Zemesgrāmata) extract against the VMD registry as of the transaction date.
- When selling, request a fresh VMD survey if the last inventory is older than 5 years. It takes 4 to 8 weeks and costs in the range of €1 to €3 per hectare, but it removes the buyer's standard "your data is out of date" argument.
- If the registry is systematically wrong, the entry can be challenged through the territorial VMD office by submitting supporting documents. The procedure takes 30 to 60 days.
FAQ
How much forest does Latvia have in total?
About 3.4 million ha of forest cover in total (around 53% of the country's territory). Roughly 3.5 million ha sits inside the active commercial inventory, including some young stands and abandoned farmland that VMD classifies as forest land. The remainder is reserves and protected areas.
What does "state or municipal" mean in your classification?
It is an aggregated category. The vast majority is Latvijas Valsts Meži (LVM, the state forest holding). A smaller share is municipal forest enterprises, military land, and forest funds attached to specialised state agencies. At the VMD registry level they are distinguished by cadastre-number prefix (40–45, 50–52, 90–99). We do not split them further, because for the buyer/seller market the difference is not operational.
Can a foreign national buy forest in Latvia directly?
EU/EEA citizens can, subject to general conditions (Land Book registration, tax requirements). Non-EU nationals cannot acquire direct ownership: since 2023, Section 28 of the Rural Land Privatisation Law has been extended to the UBO level. Structures with a non-EU ultimate beneficial owner are also blocked from acquiring rural and forest land. Alternatives are a joint venture with an EU partner, long-term lease (up to 99 years), or investment through EU-domiciled funds.
Where can I see the actual list of the largest private owners?
Lursoft / the Latvian Register of Enterprises holds data on SIAs that own forest land, through extracts that include UBO information. The Land Book (Zemesgrāmata) holds the owner data for every cadastre. Our platform aggregates data at the cadastre-attribute level but does not publish owner names, in order not to breach GDPR.
How often does the ownership structure change?
Slowly. New cadastre registrations per quarter usually run below 0.5% of the total. Large transactions (100+ ha) total 30 to 80 per year nationwide. Shifts in concentration are only meaningful over a 3 to 5 year horizon: for instance, Ingka 2026 increased the share of "large private" holdings by roughly 5% in a single move.
Sources
This article is not legal advice and does not identify specific owners. All aggregated indicators are computed from open VMD data without recourse to personal records. When planning a transaction involving forest property, consult a specialist in Latvian land law.
- VMD Meža valsts reģistrs, Q2 2026 release (our sample: 3,054,862 compartments, 276,011 cadastres).
- Latvijas Valsts Meži, 2024 annual report (latvijasvalstsmezi.lv).
- Ingka Investments / Inter IKEA Group, press release on the Södra/Bergvik portfolio acquisition, January 2026.
- Section 28 of the Rural Land Privatisation Law, 2023 amendment (likumi.lv).
- Lursoft — public extracts on UBO data of SIA structures.
- Centrālā statistikas pārvalde (CSP), forestry statistics 2024.
- Latio Mežu Tirgus Pārskats, Q3 2025.