One in five residents of Latvia is already living on the brink of a utility crisis: bills consume such a portion of income that dissatisfaction with one's housing is becoming the new norm.
Rising utility costs are increasingly affecting people's assessment of their housing and their decision to purchase new real estate, according to a survey by the developer Merko mājas. Housing maintenance costs have become one of the decisive factors in evaluating the suitability of existing housing and in choosing which property to prefer in the future.
Dissatisfaction among residents with their housing often arises not from a single factor, but as a result of several interconnected issues. The survey shows that the majority of residents in Latvia, or 67%, are dissatisfied with their housing.
The main reasons cited include old buildings with poor construction quality (24%), high utility payments (23%), and a smaller than necessary area (24%).
These results indicate a direct correlation between the technical condition of a building and its maintenance costs - the lower the energy efficiency of a building, the greater the everyday financial burden on residents. Thus, the issue of utility payments is often not a separate problem, but a direct consequence of housing quality.
Survey data show that nearly one in five residents of Latvia pays 20-30% of their monthly income on rent or mortgage payments, while 15% of residents have payments exceeding 31% of their income.
The survey results indicate that nearly one in five, or 18% of residents, spend more than 31% of their monthly income on utility payments. There are no significant differences between age groups, although people aged 60 to 74 (27%) and those aged 40-49 (19%) most often face such financial burdens.
The majority - about one-third of residents - allocate 10-20% of their monthly income to utility payments, while 15% indicated that their utility payments do not exceed one-tenth of their income.
Most residents of Latvia, or 85%, stated that lower utility payments and housing maintenance costs are among the most important factors when choosing new real estate, surpassing criteria such as location, infrastructure, and lifestyle aspects like a sense of community, proximity to water, or a family-friendly environment.
Survey data show that housing maintenance costs for many households are already approaching a level where they begin to significantly impact everyday financial capabilities.
The survey commissioned by Merko mājas was conducted in March 2026 by the market research company Norstat Latvija, involving 1,007 respondents aged 18 to 74 from across Latvia.
