Where Are Real Estate Prices in Ukraine Headed?

The Ukrainian analytical group 'ProfRieltUkraine' has published its market review of the country's real estate over the past 20 years. According to the group's research, real estate prices are now lower than they have ever been during the years of independence. Since 1998, the decline that began due to the devaluation of the national currency marked the beginning of the fall of the real estate market in Ukraine. This trend continues to be observed today. Most experts and analysts claim that this year the cost of housing has already dropped by 30-40%, despite the expected seasonal price increase. The demand for purchasing apartments is currently lower than usual. Prices are mostly maintained by displaced persons from Donetsk and Luhansk regions who had savings and are now relocating to other cities for permanent residence. The outflow of foreign investors is also forcing developers to lower housing prices to sell the planned volume, according to rbn.cc

Over nine months, apartments in the secondary market in all major cities of Ukraine have depreciated by an average of 20-25%. As noted by an agent from the 'First Real Estate Company', Irina Tsvigun, at the beginning of this year, a two-room Khrushchyovka in the Bolshoy Fontan area (Odessa) cost $45,000, and now it is $39,000. A one-room economy-class apartment in Lviv can now realistically be bought for $40-42,000, compared to the beginning of the year when it was $50-52,000. In Dnipropetrovsk and cities located closer to the eastern region, prices are even lower. The director of 'Arta' agency, Victoria Shakhmaev, emphasizes that such a situation in the real estate market has been observed for the first time in recent years. Previously, developers and apartment owners hardly agreed to deals for $1,000, while now a price drop is happening on a more global scale.

The head of the Association of Banking Appraisal Specialists, Sergei Frolov, says that until the New Year, housing prices will likely remain at this level, as developers expect a slight revival among market participants in anticipation of the holidays. However, it is unknown how long this will last; moreover, this year has been marked by a series of reforms that directly affected the construction business. With the arrival of the new year and the coming into power of new parliamentarians, further reforms in the system are expected.