In Ukraine, it’s common to see young people — and even young families — living with their parents. They work, earn money, but buying their own home feels almost impossible.
Let’s count: at the end of 2025, a one‑bedroom apartment in Kyiv cost around 1.7 million UAH. The average salary was 26,500 UAH. You’d need five years without food or water to save up. Unrealistic. More realistically, setting aside a third of your income means 15–17 years for the cheapest apartment — and only if prices don’t rise.
New construction is progressing at a snail’s pace. Even before the full‑scale invasion, the supply of housing didn’t satisfy demand, keeping prices high. With the war, the problems only multiplied.
2014: War and Crisis
After Russia annexed Crimea and invaded Donetsk and Luhansk, Ukraine’s already weakened economy went into shock. The hryvnia saw one of its fastest devaluations ever — the dollar jumped from 8 to 25 UAH in just two years.
For those who had foreign‑currency mortgages — heavily promoted during the Yushchenko presidency — it was devastating: the dollar amount stayed the same, but monthly payments in hryvnias tripled. Tens of thousands simply stopped paying.
In June 2014, Parliament imposed a moratorium on foreclosures for foreign‑currency loans. For years, banks couldn’t seize collateral — apartments — while debts grew and new mortgages disappeared. Over 100 banks went bankrupt. Construction halted, and thousands of families were left without homes they had already paid for. Around 150 billion UAH froze in unfinished projects.
GDP fell by 20% over two years, salaries dropped, and Kyiv — the country’s highest‑earning city — saw average incomes fall to about 16,000 UAH. Apartment prices in dollars dropped from $95k to $85k, but due to devaluation, doubled in hryvnias.
Meanwhile, the war destroyed tens of thousands of homes and turned nearly 2 million people into internally displaced persons (IDPs).
IDPs and the Housing Market After 2014
Starting in 2014, people from occupied and frontline areas moved en masse to major cities — Kharkiv, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv. Rental demand skyrocketed, while apartment purchases nearly stopped.
By 2016, the economy stabilized somewhat: the dollar hovered around 27 UAH, salaries began to grow, and construction slowly resumed. Between 2016 and 2019, about 130,000 apartments were commissioned, and prices nearly returned to 2013 levels.
The market revived — but mortgages remained out of reach. Banks barely issued new loans, and without accessible financing, most Ukrainians still couldn’t buy a home.
Pandemic and Attempts at Reform
In 2020, the pandemic halted construction again. Lockdowns froze building sites, and banks stopped lending entirely.
In March 2021, the government launched the “Affordable Mortgage 7%” program: instead of 18–20% bank rates, borrowers could get 7%, with a 15% down payment and loans up to 2.5 million UAH for 20 years.
It looked promising, but progress was slow: only around 1,000 mortgages were issued within a year.
Construction gradually picked up — but only slightly.
Full‑Scale Invasion and Housing Destruction
On February 24, 2022, Russia launched its full‑scale invasion. Millions fled their homes. Missile strikes and artillery fire devastated the real estate market market.
By the end of 2023, over 250,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed — including 188,000 private houses and 37,000 apartment buildings. Losses were estimated at $59 billion by early 2024.
Attempts to Launch Mortgages During Wartime
In October 2022, the government launched eOselya, a subsidized mortgage program:
- 3% for military personnel, teachers, doctors, scientists
- 7% for all others
Demand was enormous: by February 2024, Ukrainians submitted 576,000 applications, but only 7,600 loans were issued — just 1.3%.
By January 2025, around 15,000 loans had been approved.
The program simply can’t keep up with demand — and some of its rules make the situation worse.
For example:
- Housing must be no older than three years.
Such properties are extremely rare and very expensive. - The program’s funding model is inefficient.
The government covers the entire loan through UkrFinZhytlo, not just the difference between market and subsidized rates.
As experts note, the result is costly and ineffective: 20 billion UAH covers only 8–15 thousand loans, despite hundreds of thousands of applications.
A more common approach — covering only the interest differential — could produce several times more loans for the same budget.
Additionally, since late 2024, the program effectively excludes the secondary market. Only new construction qualifies — and this sector has its own problems: labor shortages, delays, high prices. Buyers must purchase property rights without knowing when they can move in.
Banks still impose strict requirements: official income, perfect credit history, and loan repayment age under 70. Most applicants fail screening.
Even military personnel, despite the promised 3% rate, often cannot qualify.
The New Reality of the Rental Market
During the full‑scale war, rental prices in safer regions skyrocketed:
- Uzhhorod: +125% (to 19,000 UAH)
- Ivano‑Frankivsk: +119% (to 11,000 UAH)
- Lviv: +72% (to 15,000 UAH)
Millions of IDPs moved in, supply was limited, and prices rose every few months.
Frontline cities show the opposite:
- Kharkiv: −35% (to 4,500 UAH)
- Kherson: −44% (to 2,500 UAH)
- Zaporizhzhia and Mykolaiv also declined.
Kyiv sits in the middle: after a 14% drop in 2022, prices stabilized around 9,000–15,000 UAH.
As a result, renting has become the default for millions of Ukrainians:
- IDPs rent because they lost their homes
- Young people rent because buying is unrealistic
- Veterans return from war and must rent
Ukraine is gradually becoming a nation of renters.
A Small Glimmer of Hope
There is some alternative. Alongside eOselya, the State Youth Housing Fund revitalized its preferential mortgage program in 2025. It offers certain benefits for IDPs — notably, it does not require the building to have been recently commissioned, unlike eOselya.
But it has its own issues:
- not every property qualifies
- terms differ from standard mortgages
- winners of the lottery have only one month to choose an apartment and submit documents
It’s a complex system that requires expertise — it’s neither a typical mortgage nor comparable to eOselya.
And yet, even this program can help only hundreds of families, while millions need housing.
Kyiv real estate market. Prices, trends, eOselya and the impact of IDPs
