Due to the war, Ukrainians are not ready to actively buy housing – NBU research
15 January 10:56
The real estate market in Ukraine is now more favorable than before the full-scale invasion, but Ukrainians are not ready to actively invest in housing due to military risks. This conclusion was reached by the National Bank’s experts in the course of preparing the December Financial Stability Report, according to
According to the NBU, the improvement of price conditions in the real estate market is evidenced by:
– first, the price-to-rent ratio has fallen to its long-term average, so buying a home is becoming more profitable than renting one;
– second, the historically lowest values of the price-to-income ratio – on average, the purchase of 70 square meters of housing in Kyiv for a family will cost the equivalent of its 10-year income.
However, the demand for housing purchases has not yet recovered to the level before the full-scale invasion, although it is slowly reviving.
NBU experts emphasize other interesting facts:
– the market conditions are determined by the buyer: the actual sale price of apartments is still a quarter lower than the average price of advertisements;
– given the slow replenishment of supply due to new construction, the risks of a shortage of new quality housing in the future remain;
– the share of mortgage transactions in the second half of 2024 decreased to 4% compared to 5% in the first half, which is comparable to 2021. Banks have issued almost half of all loans since the beginning of the year for properties in Kyiv and Kyiv region.
The NBU attributes the decline in the role of mortgages to the slowdown of the eOselya program, which is currently key for real estate buyers due to changes in its design and limited resources. As a result, the importance of the program for the real estate market is unlikely to increase in the near future, so, according to NBU experts, the market needs to be stimulated by the development of more mass products from banks.

What will determine the development of the eHouse program?
At the end of last year, the government provided UAH 20 billion in additional funding to the Ukrainian Financial Housing Company, which operates the eHouse mortgage program. This may give the program a new impetus. Olena Dmitrieva, First Deputy Chairman of the Board of GLOBUS BANK, in an interview with
Further improvement (liberalization) of the program’s terms and conditions, depending on the requests of citizens, will also have an impact on the development of the program. According to Olena Dmitrieva, the gradual reorientation of eHouse to the primary market will also be important, as the state mortgage will allow developers to gradually increase the pace of construction by increasing sales at the construction stage.
What other trends are observed in the housing market
The construction of new housing continues to be rather slow: new projects are launched more often in the western regions, while in the capital, the phases of existing complexes are being completed. Construction continues with significant delays due to a lack of resources, including labor. This is stated in a post on Telegram by MP Danylo Hetmantsev.
According to the LUN, the number of residential complexes for sale in Ukraine has increased by 10% since the beginning of the year.

As for prices in the primary and secondary markets, the leaders are traditionally Lviv, Kyiv and Uzhhorod. LUN also reminds that the price of sold apartments is still a quarter lower than the average price of ads.

Danylo Hetmantsev emphasizes that the price dynamics of real estate in the secondary market correlates with changes in the exchange rate and is sluggish. The cost per square meter in dollar terms in the capital and western Ukraine has remained mostly stable, while in other regions it is even declining.
Housing prices in the primary market are growing more dynamically than in the secondary market. Prices are moving up primarily in the western regions, where construction and demand are more active.