Where in Ukraine is it easier to get a discount on an apartment

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the secondary housing market in Ukraine has decreased significantly: most of the apartments have been removed from sale. The remaining housing on the market can be purchased at a discount, sometimes with a significant one. What are the prospects for the secondary market of Ukraine in 2023.

How much the secondary housing market in Ukraine has decreased

According to Flatfy statistics, after February 24, the number of offers on the secondary real estate market has fallen significantly in almost all regions of Ukraine. The largest drop occurred in the front-line regions - Kherson, Kharkov, Nikolaev (from 88 to 91%) and Kirovograd regions (87%). Among the front-line regions, Dnipropetrovsk looks the most optimistic: the number of offers there decreased by only 46%. The country's largest market - Kyiv and Kyiv region - lost up to 77% of offers.

A slight increase in supply is observed in the Volyn (+1%) and Transcarpathian (+8%) regions, a significant increase is demonstrated by the Chernivtsi region - up to 39%. As LUN explained, this growth is likely to be explained by the unpopularity of the region in previous years. And now, due to a wave of internal migrants, interest in the Chernivtsi region has grown, so local residents are more actively putting up apartments for sale.
How prices have changed in the secondary housing market in Ukraine

“A huge number of objects were removed from sale. There are those sellers who need money, or they are waiting for sales at the specified price. This is a place for bidding, this is a place where the price is called directly at the negotiating table. Until October 10, when the first massive shelling of the energy system took place, it was possible to agree on a discount of 10-20% in Kyiv. But there were also big discounts,” Denis Sudilkovskiy, marketing director of LUN, says in an interview with The Page.

According to Flatfy statistics, the average price of 1-room apartments in Kyiv in ads has dropped to $55,000. However, the average price of such housing in real transactions is $42,000, which corresponds to the average price in July 2021. Buyers could get the biggest discounts in June-July 2022.

Those wishing to buy a 2-room apartment in Kyiv on the secondary market could get the biggest discounts in April. At that time, the average price of such housing was almost $50,000, which is about the price of a 1-room apartment today.

In Lvov, the biggest discount could be obtained in June, when 1-room apartments were sold for $29,000. During the summer, the city experienced an increase in prices in real transactions.

In autumn, 2-room apartments in Lvov were significantly more expensive than in Kyiv. The average price in real transactions is $90,000.

Why Ukrainians do not buy apartments on the secondary market

Sudilkovsky calls the illiquidity of such apartments one of the most common trends in the secondary market. “Earlier (if these are not the extremes of illiquid assets - super small, or super killed, or super expensive housing), an apartment on the secondary was sold in 3-6 months. Today, during the war, it will be either a year or until victory, ”the expert says.

He also named three reasons why Ukrainians are in no hurry to buy resale apartments:

if someone who is now at the front or abroad is registered in the apartment, there is a risk that the deal will be canceled;
there are no installments in the secondary market, the full amount is needed immediately;
there is no way to pay in hryvnia, only in dollars.

By the end of the year, the secondary market in Ukraine revived a little thanks to the єОselya program. At the end of December, the company "Ukrfinzhile" reported on 507 loans issued. Of these, 71% of the apartments were purchased on the secondary market.