Riga’s Airbnb Supply Outpaces Revenue Growth
Riga’s short-term rental market has expanded sharply, but the increase in supply has not translated into comparable revenue growth for hosts. AirROI estimates that active inventory increased 26.3% over the 12 months through July 2026, while average annual gross revenue slipped 1.7% to about $9,855 per listing. Average occupancy stands at just 40.2%, with an average daily rate of $91. That makes Riga a sizable but highly competitive and seasonal short-term rental market where the strongest properties dramatically outperform the average. Meanwhile, apartment prices continue to rise and Riga will double its municipal tourism charge to €2 per taxable guest night from January 2027.
Riga Airbnb revenue averages about $9,855 a year
AirROI estimates average annual gross revenue of approximately $9,855 for an active Riga listing over August 2025 through July 2026.
The average daily rate is $91, occupancy is 40.2%, and revenue per available rental night — RevPAR — is approximately $37.
RevPAR combines pricing and occupancy and therefore gives a more useful measure of operating performance than nightly pricing alone.
The most significant development is the divergence between supply and revenue. Active inventory expanded by 26.3%, while average annual revenue declined 1.7%.
That suggests competition is growing faster than the amount of revenue available to the average property.
Rising supply increases competition among Riga hosts
AirROI counts about 2,520 active listings in its current Riga dataset.
At the same time, 81.6% of listings show at least 181 available calendar days per year, and 51.5% have 271–366 open days.
Those figures point to substantial potential availability, although owner use and deliberately blocked dates can also affect the data.
Average occupancy of 40.2% means that simply entering the market no longer guarantees frequent bookings. Properties increasingly compete on location, presentation, guest reviews and pricing.
Top-performing Riga Airbnbs earn several times more
Performance is highly uneven.
AirROI estimates median monthly revenue at roughly $960. Properties in the top quarter generate at least $1,635 per month, while the top 10% reach $2,467 or more.
The bottom quarter generates only around $487.
The gap between the weakest quarter and the top-performing group is therefore more than fivefold.
For investors, that dispersion is crucial: a market-wide revenue average says relatively little about what an individual apartment can achieve.
Riga’s short-term rental market is highly seasonal
August is identified as the strongest revenue month and January as the weakest.
Across the high season — August, September and May in AirROI's dataset — monthly revenue averages about $1,693, occupancy reaches 52.6% and the average daily rate is roughly $96.
Shoulder-season revenue averages about $1,183, while low-season revenue falls to approximately $846.
At the monthly extremes, revenue reaches around $2,070 in the strongest month and falls as low as $761 in the weakest, while occupancy ranges from 62.1% to 31.9%.
This degree of seasonality makes annual cash-flow planning essential. An investment model built around peak summer pricing is likely to materially overstate year-round revenue.
Guests stay an average of 4.8 nights
AirROI estimates average stay length at around 4.8 nights and booking lead time at roughly 46 days.
Its dataset contains approximately 57,375 reservations, equivalent to about 22.8 bookings per listing.
Turnover frequency matters because each reservation can create additional cleaning, check-in and operational costs.
Around 78.3% of listings charge a cleaning fee. The average charge is $35 and the median is $34.
More than one-third of listings target monthly stays
Riga also contains a sizable medium-term rental segment.
Some 37% of listings have a minimum stay of 30 nights or longer. Another 28.5% allow one-night bookings and 23.1% have a two-night minimum.
This is an important methodological consideration because AirROI's market includes properties that are not necessarily competing primarily for weekend tourists.
Medium-term stays can reduce turnover costs but generally operate under different pricing economics from classic short-term rentals.
Airbnb itself shows more Riga rentals than AirROI
Airbnb's own Riga search page currently displays around 4,330 vacation rentals, compared with AirROI's 2,520 active properties.
The difference should not automatically be treated as an error.
Airbnb presents its current searchable inventory, while AirROI uses its proprietary definition of an active listing and trailing 12-month analytics.
For investors, the practical lesson is that market-size figures from different data providers should not be mixed without understanding their methodology.
Tourism remains the fundamental source of demand
Riga remains Latvia's dominant destination for foreign visitors.
Latvia recorded 447,100 arrivals and 779,100 nights in official tourist accommodation during the first quarter of 2026. Total nights were down 3% year on year.
Riga accounted for 80.4% of all foreign visitors staying in officially recorded Latvian accommodation and 36.1% of resident guests.
Foreign arrivals nationally fell 7.2%, while non-resident nights decreased 7.5%. Lithuania, Estonia, the UK, Germany and Finland were among the largest foreign source markets.
Official tourist-accommodation statistics are not the same as Airbnb data, but they provide an independent measure of underlying visitor demand.
Riga tourism grew strongly in 2025
The longer-term picture is more supportive.
Riga's registered tourist accommodation hosted about 1.525 million guests in 2025, up 6.9% from the previous year.
Total overnight stays increased 9.7%.
Foreign arrivals reached almost 1.2 million, up 5.7%, although the number was still only about 82% of the 2019 level.
Foreign visitors generated approximately 2.217 million overnight stays.
This leaves Riga with potential for further international tourism recovery, but also exposes rental demand to international travel trends.
Apartment prices are increasing the cost of entry
Rental performance needs to be considered against the cost of acquiring the underlying property.
The average price of standard apartments in Riga's major residential districts reached €959 per square meter in June, around 8% above the start of 2026.
Teika was the most expensive of the tracked mass-market districts at €1,146 per square meter, while Bolderāja averaged €714.
Two-bedroom apartments in selected Soviet-era housing series were available in roughly the €33,000–€60,000 range depending on location and building type.
Those properties, however, are not directly comparable with tourist-oriented apartments in Riga's Old Town or central districts.
Central Riga property costs considerably more
Latio data illustrate the scale of that difference.
Average transaction prices for renovated apartments in prewar buildings in central Riga reached around €3,000 per square meter in the first quarter.
Resale apartments in newer developments averaged approximately €2,150 per square meter outside the center and €2,800 in central Riga.
Latio also found that advertised apartment prices could average 20%–25% above actual transaction values.
An annual gross revenue figure of $9,855 therefore represents radically different investment economics on a €60,000 apartment and on a €200,000 central property.
$9,855 is revenue, not investor profit
This distinction is essential.
Gross host revenue does not account for utilities, cleaning, consumables, repairs, insurance, management, platform charges, taxes, tourism fees or vacancy.
Financed properties also carry borrowing costs.
AirROI explicitly describes its figures as average market revenue rather than investment-return projections. Its current analytics are dated July 31, 2026 and aggregate the preceding 12 months.
Investors should therefore calculate net operating cash flow for the individual property rather than treating gross revenue as yield.
Riga's regulation is not simply “low”
AirROI classifies Riga as a low-regulation short-term rental market, but that is a proprietary market score rather than a legal determination.
Latvian tax authorities require operators to consider business-registration and tax obligations, including rules associated with economic activity conducted through online platforms.
Riga also operates its own tourist-accommodation charge and reporting system.
Investors should therefore not interpret AirROI's “low regulation” label as meaning that a property can be listed without registration, taxation or municipal compliance.
Riga charges a municipal tourism fee
During 2026, Riga's municipal fee is €0.89 excluding VAT for each taxable overnight stay, capped at €8.90 for one continuous stay.
In practice, no additional fee is charged after the first 10 taxable nights of the same uninterrupted stay.
Tourist accommodation providers must register for the municipal charge and submit the required reporting. Certain guests, including those under 18, are exempt.
The tourism charge will double in 2027
Riga City Council approved a significant increase in July.
From Jan. 1, 2027, the rate will rise to €1.78 before VAT, equivalent to €2 including VAT per taxable guest night.
Municipal tourism-fee revenue increased from €1.37 million in 2023 to €1.73 million in 2024 and €1.86 million in 2025.
The city says the proceeds are invested in tourism promotion and development.
Professional managers are significant competitors
Parts of Riga's Airbnb inventory are concentrated among large operators.
AirROI estimates that its largest tracked host manages 219 properties, the second-largest 120 and the third 54.
Estimated gross revenue for the leading profile exceeded $3.16 million over the 12-month period.
A private investor with one apartment is therefore competing with managers able to centralize cleaning, automate guest communication and use professional dynamic-pricing systems.
Riga Airbnb outlook for 2026–2027
The market has supportive and negative forces operating simultaneously.
Riga remains Latvia's dominant international tourism destination, while foreign visitor numbers still have room to recover toward pre-pandemic levels.
Yet short-term rental supply is expanding rapidly, average AirROI revenue has already edged lower, and the acquisition cost of apartments is rising.
The increase in Riga's tourism fee from 2027 adds another small cost to stays.
The likely result is a market that can continue expanding in total volume while becoming less forgiving for average operators.
According to International Investment experts, the central investment risk in Riga's short-term rental market is confusing gross booking revenue with investment yield. Average annual revenue of about $9,855 can look attractive in isolation, but 40% occupancy, strong seasonality and a 26% increase in active supply materially change the economics once operating expenses and acquisition costs are included. Rising apartment prices can further compress returns if property values increase faster than rental revenue. Riga nevertheless retains advantages as a comparatively affordable European capital with significant international tourism recovery potential, meaning professionally operated properties in the strongest central locations can still substantially outperform the city average.