Jūrmala Recovers, but Prime Market Remains Selective
Jūrmala’s property market has recovered part of the activity lost during previous weaker years, but current evidence does not support the beginning of a new broad-based price boom. Premium apartment transactions reached 188 deals worth €49.5 million in 2025, while high-end villas again changed hands for multimillion-euro sums. Yet confirmed premium transaction volume in Jūrmala was lower year over year in the first quarter of 2026, with qualifying apartment sales falling to 34 from 41. More recent industry commentary for the first half of 2026 nevertheless points to continued strong interest in high-quality property. The market is becoming more selective rather than simply more expensive: scarce correctly priced coastal assets can find buyers, while overpriced properties may remain on the market for an extended period.
Jūrmala housing activity recovered in 2025
VIP REAL's market review uses publicly available registered transaction data and 2025 market studies. Some of its figures are therefore the agency's analytical classifications rather than standalone official statistical series.
The firm counts 466 standard-apartment transactions in Jūrmala in 2025, up around 29% from 361 in 2024 and the highest level in a decade.
Combined transaction value increased to €23 million from €17.7 million.
About 68% of those deals were in Kauguri, a mass-market residential district, meaning the record number of standard-apartment sales cannot be used as evidence of an equivalent luxury-market boom.
VIP REAL also counts 151 private-house transactions, compared with 94 in 2024, and around 218 transactions involving new-development apartments and serviced apartments.
Premium apartments recorded 188 transactions worth €49.5 million
Latvia Sotheby’s International Realty uses a narrower premium-market methodology.
Its analysis generally includes apartments from €150,000, private houses from €350,000 and residential development land from €150,000.
Under that definition, Jūrmala recorded 188 premium apartment transactions worth €49.5 million in 2025.
Transaction count increased 18%, while value rose by a slower 8%.
That distinction points more toward a recovery in market turnover than an uncontrolled increase in average prices.
The premium-villa market remained much smaller, with 29 transactions totaling €25.2 million. Jūrmala nevertheless recorded the highest average villa transaction values among the regions included in the analysis.
The first quarter of 2026 was softer
Confirmed premium transaction volume in Jūrmala reached €14.6 million in the first quarter, below the comparable 2025 period.
Premium apartment transactions totaled €9.1 million, with deal count falling to 34 from 41.
The €150,000–€300,000 segment remained roughly unchanged at €5.9 million. Volume in the €300,000–€500,000 category fell to €2 million from €3.9 million.
The €500,000-plus apartment category moved in the opposite direction, increasing to €1.2 million from €0.5 million.
Premium private-house volume in Jūrmala declined to €5 million from €8 million.
The authors also warn that first-quarter Land Register data may subsequently be supplemented with additional registered transactions, which is particularly important in such a small market.
A weaker first quarter does not prove a weak first half
This is an important correction to the earlier version.
A more recent July market update from Latvia Sotheby’s describes Jūrmala's first half of 2026 as highly active across segments, with stable interest from domestic and international buyers.
Lielupe and Bulduri remain particularly popular for private houses, while Dzintari continues to attract apartment buyers.
The latest update, however, is primarily qualitative and does not provide a full comparable first-half transaction table.
The defensible conclusion is therefore that confirmed first-quarter premium volume was weaker year over year, but there is insufficient numerical evidence to describe the whole first half as a continuing downturn.
A €2.8 million villa set a 2025 benchmark
Jūrmala's private-house market has an unusually wide price distribution.
VIP REAL reports an average registered house transaction price of around €2,417 per square meter along the Dubulti–Lielupe stretch, compared with roughly €1,490 between Asari and Melluži.
Its largest cited transaction was a 367-square-meter Bulduri villa on a 1,721-square-meter plot sold for €2.8 million, or about €7,630 per square meter of building area.
A Lielupe property sold for €1.6 million, or approximately €5,344 per square meter.
Ten transactions fell between €1 million and €2.8 million and another 15 between €500,000 and €1 million.
These figures illustrate the upper end of a small market and should not be interpreted as typical Jūrmala pricing.
Actual premium apartment deals remain below the highest asking ranges
VIP REAL puts the average price in the new-development segment at €2,336 per square meter in 2025, up from €2,070.
It describes €2,400–€3,100 per square meter as the most common price band, with exclusive developments reaching €4,600–€7,800 and exceptional offerings above €10,000.
Those highest figures are best treated as upper-tier market or asking-price benchmarks rather than average registered transaction prices.
The largest apartment transaction cited in the review was a 228-square-meter Bulduru Avenue unit with a 143-square-meter terrace sold for €1.1 million, equivalent to roughly €4,868 per square meter of internal area.
A 210-square-meter Dzintaru Avenue apartment with a 110-square-meter terrace sold for €904,000, or around €4,304 per square meter.
Mass-market Jūrmala is dramatically cheaper
Jūrmala's mainstream housing provides useful context.
ARCO Real Estate put the average price of standard-type apartments in Kauguri at €883 per square meter in July 2026.
Prices were broadly unchanged during the month but about 7% higher than at the beginning of the year.
The gap between €883 in Kauguri and €4,000–€5,000 or more for high-quality coastal properties demonstrates why a single citywide Jūrmala price is analytically misleading.
Prime coastal land remains scarce
VIP REAL counts about 44 residential building-land transactions in Jūrmala during 2025, totaling roughly €6 million.
The overall average of about €52 per square meter is pulled down by inexpensive peripheral sites.
Its premium-market benchmarks are far higher, at roughly €242 per square meter on average for higher-value transactions and around €350–€550 per square meter along the Dubulti–Lielupe coastal zone.
These should be treated as market reference ranges rather than a single transaction average.
Physical coastal scarcity supports long-term value, but scarcity alone does not guarantee liquidity if the asking price exceeds what the available buyer pool will pay.
Bulduri and Lielupe remain strongest for houses
Demand differs substantially by neighborhood.
Lielupe and Bulduri remain key locations for quality private homes and villas.
Dzintari has a stronger premium-apartment and new-development profile.
Majori combines residential property with the resort's heaviest tourist and commercial activity.
Farther west, Dubulti, Pumpuri, Melluži and Asari contain a broader mix of properties and price levels.
Exact distance from the sea, plot size, building quality, railway position and redevelopment potential can create substantial differences even within the same neighborhood.
Foreign buyers do not represent 28% of all Jūrmala transactions
This requires a strict methodological qualification.
Latvia Sotheby’s reported that foreign buyers and tenants represented 28% of its own 2025 client transactions.
The figure is not the foreign share of all registered Jūrmala property sales.
Likewise, the company's statement that 77% of transactions were completed using personal funds rather than bank financing describes its client base across the broader premium market, not Jūrmala as a whole.
The numbers are useful for illustrating one major agency's customer profile but should not be generalized to the entire city.
Housing-loan costs rose to 4.41% in June
The financing section also requires an update.
Latvijas Banka's latest available data put the annual percentage rate of charge on new household loans for house purchase at 4.41% in June 2026.
That compares with 4.39% in May, 4.34% in April and 4.11% in March.
It is therefore no longer fully accurate to describe borrowing costs as continuing to decline steadily. They had eased from earlier highs but edged higher again by June.
The APRC is broader than an advertised mortgage interest rate because it incorporates interest and mandatory known fees and expenses associated with the loan.
Tourism has not yet returned to sustained rapid growth
Tourism matters particularly for properties purchased with seasonal rental income in mind.
Jūrmala's registered accommodation establishments hosted 246,472 guests in 2025, just 0.1% more than in 2024 and 4.3% below 2019.
Average stay length was 1.7 nights.
Average annual accommodation occupancy was approximately 39%.
About 77% of visitors came from the Baltic states, with Latvian residents alone accounting for 47.6%.
The fourth quarter was stronger, with arrivals rising 5.3%, while July visitor numbers exceeded July 2019 by 7.4%.
Early 2026 also does not show a tourism boom
Latvia-wide first-quarter tourism data were softer.
Foreign arrivals at registered accommodation establishments fell 7.2% year over year and their overnight stays declined 7.5%.
Jūrmala accounted for 5.5% of foreign guests and 13.5% of resident guests staying in Latvia's surveyed accommodation establishments.
These figures do not demonstrate a tourism crisis in Jūrmala, but they provide little basis for an investment model assuming continuously rapid visitor growth.
High summer rents are not annual investment returns
VIP REAL provides an indicative range of roughly €6,000–€10,000 per month for short-term summer rentals of exclusive properties.
Such pricing can be plausible for individual premium assets during peak season, but it should not be annualized.
Jūrmala's approximately 39% annual accommodation occupancy and pronounced seasonality make peak-summer rent a poor proxy for full-year investment performance.
Maintenance, utilities, management, taxes, repairs and vacant periods also need to be deducted from gross rental revenue.
Jūrmala remains a narrow market
Low transaction numbers are perhaps the most important feature of the premium segment.
Only 29 qualifying premium villa transactions were completed during all of 2025, while the first quarter of 2026 produced 34 premium apartment transactions.
Two or three multimillion-euro deals can therefore materially alter average prices and transaction volume.
Comparable registered transactions in the same micro-location are more useful for valuation than a citywide premium average.
Greater activity does not automatically mean greater liquidity
VIP REAL quotes one of its specialists as estimating that only around one in ten sellers initially sets an objectively realistic asking price.
That is a practitioner's opinion rather than a statistically measured market indicator.
The underlying liquidity issue is nevertheless important: a limited buyer pool and highly differentiated properties make overpricing particularly costly.
For assets above €1 million, the time needed to find a buyer may matter as much as short-term movements in average prices.
Jūrmala outlook for the second half of 2026
Available evidence points to a resilient but highly selective market.
Transaction activity clearly recovered in 2025, genuinely scarce seaside properties remain limited, and industry participants continue to report demand for quality assets during 2026.
At the same time, confirmed first-quarter premium turnover was lower than a year earlier, making it premature to declare the beginning of another broad price-growth cycle.
The more plausible scenario is a multi-speed market.
A unique Bulduri villa, a high-quality Dzintari apartment and a standard Kauguri flat effectively operate in different markets and respond to different buyers.
The strongest assets may retain pricing power, while overpriced properties continue to face lengthy marketing periods.
According to International Investment experts, the biggest analytical mistake in Jūrmala is treating physical scarcity of coastal property as a guarantee that every premium asset will appreciate. Limited frontline supply genuinely supports rare, high-quality properties, but the premium market remains small, seasonal and relatively illiquid. Lower confirmed transaction volume in the first quarter of 2026 does not indicate a crisis, yet it demonstrates the limits of an aggressively bullish scenario. For investors, entry price, registered comparable transactions, technical condition, carrying costs and eventual resale liquidity remain decisive. A genuinely unique location can preserve value substantially better than the wider market, but a high asking price alone does not turn a property into a high-quality investment.