Current events of the Latvian Land Fund

The first three months of the Latvian Land Fund managed by the Development Financial Institution ALTUM have been successfully completed. Since July 1 of this year, when the Land Fund started operating, the Land Fund has received 254 property sales applications. The highest application activity was in the first weeks of the fund's operation, after which client activity stabilized and currently an average of 2-3 transaction applications are submitted every day. Offers are from all over Latvia, the largest number of applications – approximately a third – are from Latgale, but the smallest – approximately 10% – from Vidzeme, approximately a fifth of applications from Zemgale and Kurzeme, while approximately 15% of the offered properties are located in Pieriga. Mostly, relatively small private properties are offered to the fund – from 6-12 ha. Several properties with a total area close to or exceeding 100 ha have also been offered.
When conducting an initial assessment of the feasibility of purchasing properties submitted so far in accordance with the criteria set by the Cabinet of Ministers, a decision to refuse has been made in more than 701 TP3T cases, because their purchase would not be economically viable for the fund. The main reasons for not meeting the criteria are, firstly, the poor condition of the properties and, secondly, very small private properties are offered, the maintenance and management costs of which are too high.
As of September 18, purchase agreements have been signed for the acquisition of 17 agricultural land properties for the Latvian Land Fund, of which 8 properties have already been registered in the name of the Land Fund manager Altum, the rest are currently in the registration process. A number of other properties are in the evaluation process. We predict that the number of transactions will continue to increase.
At the same time, ALTUM informs that recently a commercial company, registered in the Register of Enterprises of the Republic of Latvia under the name SIA “Latvijas zemes fonds”, has started active agricultural land acquisition activities, and this company uses very similar information in its advertisements as the Land Fund managed by ALTUM. Of course, this coincidence may cause misunderstandings for some residents and mislead those residents who want to cooperate directly with the state-managed fund. It is advisable to inform your cooperation partners at the first opportunity that the state-established Latvian Land Fund is managed by the Development Finance Institution ALTUM, and it is the only state-established fund with such a name.
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Information prepared by
Ina Alksne
Head of the Latvian Land Fund