Rental housing prices in western Ukraine surge sharply due to exodus of Kyiv residents

According to data from the LUN platform, rental rates in the western Ukrainian cities of Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Uzhhorod, and Chernivtsi rose significantly between May and early September.

The cause was the mass relocation of residents from Kyiv and other regions fleeing the intensification of Russian attacks.

The most detailed picture comes from Lviv. While a one-bedroom apartment there cost an average of 20,000 hryvnias per month in May, by July the price had risen to 22,500, by August to 24,700, and by September 3 to 26,300 hryvnias. Two-bedroom apartments over the same period increased in price from 24,000 hryvnias in May to 31,400 hryvnias by early September.

Realtors are also recording an unusual narrowing of the price gap between Lviv’s districts. A one-bedroom apartment in the central Shevchenkivskyi district now costs 26,900 hryvnias, while in the more distant Sykhivskyi district it costs 24,700. The difference is just over 2,000 hryvnias, or less than 10%, whereas the standard gap was at least 15%. Specialists attribute this to the fact that newcomers are actively searching for cheaper housing on the outskirts, and demand there is so high that prices are rising faster than elsewhere.

In Ivano-Frankivsk, one-bedroom apartments rose in price from 18,000 to 21,500 hryvnias between July and early September, while two-bedroom apartments went from 22,500 to 25,900 hryvnias. The price of three-bedroom apartments remained at 32,500 hryvnias.

Over the past year, Uzhhorod has become one of the most expensive cities in the country for rental housing. During the summer, one-bedroom apartments there were listed at 22,500 hryvnias and two-bedroom apartments at 26,000. By early September, prices had risen to 29,100 and 30,300 hryvnias respectively. Over the year, rental rates for one-bedroom apartments in the city increased by 40% and for two-bedroom apartments by 61%. This is attributed to the comparatively favorable security situation: Uzhhorod and the surrounding region experience almost no air raid alerts and have no curfew.

In Chernivtsi, one-bedroom apartments rose in price from 15,800 hryvnias in July to 18,000 by early September, and two-bedroom apartments from 20,600 to 22,500 hryvnias.

The opposite picture is emerging in Kyiv itself. According to LUN data, the average asking price for a one-bedroom apartment in the capital fell from 19,000 hryvnias in July to 18,000 by early September, and in actual transactions such apartments are going for 16,900 hryvnias. Two-bedroom apartments dropped in asking price from 28,000 to 26,900 hryvnias, while actually renting for 21,900 hryvnias — a significant discount. Landlords are willing to negotiate.

The price situation in the west of the country is being acutely felt by those currently searching for housing. Kyiv resident Kateryna, who has been monitoring options in the western regions, wrote on social media:

“I started looking at the western part of Ukraine, but so far I can’t find anything. I don’t understand why people living in western Ukraine are profiting from this. They can see what’s happening, that everyone has started moving there en masse, and they’ve started raising prices. For a one-bedroom they can ask 40,000–50,000 hryvnias, it’s simply beyond comprehension. The situation of Lviv in 2022 is repeating itself,” — Kateryna wrote.

Realtors predict that if the shelling situation in Kyiv and the surrounding region does not improve, the number of people wishing to leave the capital will only grow — as will rental rates in the western oblasts.