After crashing in 2020, rents in Ukraine’s major cities are on the rebound, according to data from online marketplace OLX Group.
When Ukraine introduced its first COVID-19 lockdowns in March 2020, apartment rental prices fell by 6-9% over the following six months. Landlords often cut prices, afraid that tenants would look for cheaper alternatives, leaving the properties empty for a long time.
Now, almost a year and a half later, the prices are up again. One-room apartment rentals are 13% more expensive compared to July 2020. Rents for two-room apartments grew by 25% and for three-room apartments by 27%
The cost of renting an apartment in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Dnipro has gone up by an average of 3% from April to August. Rents went up by 5% in Odesa and 2% in Lviv, OLX stated.
These are welcome news for property owners.
Typical rents in the capital currently range from Hr 7,000 to Hr 16,000 ($263 to $600) for one-room apartments, Hr 8,000 to Hr 30,000 ($300 to $1,124) for two-room apartments and Hr 11,000 to Hr 55,700 ($412 to $2,087) for three-room apartments.
Rents are lowest in Desnyanskiy, Kyiv’s most populated district, and highest in Pechersk district, according to OLX.
Lviv has the second-highest rents among the top five cities. Common rental prices are Hr 7,000 to Hr 8,000 ($262 to $300) for one-room apartments, Hr 8,000 to Hr 10,000 ($300 to $375) for two-room apartments and Hr 8,500 to Hr 12,500 ($319 to $468) for three-room apartments.
Lviv’s market is unique because there is a very small difference between rents in the city center and outlying areas, according to the report.
Odesa tends to have the cheapest rents among cities with over 1 million residents, which also include Kyiv and Kharkiv, due to the declining number of tourists. Odesa’s rents range from Hr 5,500 to Hr 7,000 ($206 to $262) for one-room apartments, Hr 6,000 to Hr 8,500 ($225 to $319) for two-room apartments and Hr 7,000 to Hr 9,500 ($262 to $356) for three-room apartments.
However, Odesa’s seaside properties are still costly. For example, in Primorsky district, typical rentals for one, two and three-room units are Hr 8,500 ($319), Hr 12,000 ($450) and Hr 19,300 ($723), respectively.
Buying new apartments has also gotten more expensive, especially in Kyiv. A growing number of people want to invest in the capital’s real estate, while available property is limited.
In response to the soaring demand, Kyiv’s apartment prices have surged by 23% in the last year, according to Lun.ua, an online marketplace for real estate. The average cost of a new apartment in Kyiv was $922 per square meter in 2020; now it’s $1,131.
The rising cost of construction materials like steel and lumber is also impacting the market. Prices are likely to increase all across the country as banks give out more mortgage loans. Real estate taxes are also expected to rise, increasing housing prices by up to 40%, according to Lev Partskhaladze, president of the Confederation of Builders of Ukraine.
Rising apartment costs will affect rental prices, although they will not necessarily grow by the same amount, Dmytro Sheinert, director of Kyiv-based real estate agency Next Realty, told the Kyiv Post.
The Association of Real Estate Experts of Ukraine expects rents to increase by another 10-15% by the end of the year, if there are no new lockdowns.
However, health officials have not ruled out the possibility of another wave of COVID-19 in the fall, which might bring back harsher quarantine restrictions.
