Page 69 - UKRRptSept21

now already $1,131 a year later.
And prices are likely to keep rising. Banks are giving out more mortgages, providing buyers more opportunities to borrow; a planned increase in real estate taxes will push the prices up too.
Kyiv and Lviv lead Ukraine’s five largest cities for rising office space costs. During the first half of this year, the purchase price of Kyiv office real estate increased by 18.4% y/y, $2,269 per square meter – more than double the national average of 8.4%. Office rents increased by 13.3% in Kyiv, to $18.7 per square meter. Nationally, office rents declined by almost 1%, Volodomyr Shalaev, director general of the Uvecon group, tells Interfax-Ukraine. In Lviv, rents increased at the same pace as Kyiv, but office selling prices soared by 29%, to $1,210 per square meter.
New apartment prices have risen across Ukraine by an average of 16% since the start of last year, according to a study by OLX Real Estate. In Kyiv, the nation’s most expensive major market, the jump was 22%. In Kyiv, average prices for new apartments are: $41,000 for 1-bedroom; $59,000 - for 2-bedroom; and $83.300 - for 3-bedroom. Lviv, the second most expensive market, comparable prices are: $32,000; $44,700; and $52,000. Last week, the Kyiv Post headlined a story: “Apartment prices in Kyiv surge with no sign of slowing down.”
Up to 32 new business centres will open in Kyiv by the end of next year,
Volodomyr Heliuta, managing partner of UTG Offices, tells Interfax-Ukraine. The leasable area adds up to 670,000 square meters – almost one third of existing office space in Kyiv. “Frozen and postponed projects have been actively revived since the middle of 2020,” he says. “Outdated shopping centres, hotel complexes, enterprises and factories are being reconstructed into office real estate.” IT is the main driver of the expansion, he and other commercial real estate analysts say.
With e-commerce booming, warehouse prices grew at double digits in Lviv, Kyiv and Dnipro. Sales prices for warehouses grew by 40% y/y in Lviv, by 31% in Kyiv, and by 27% in Dnipro.
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.
Typical rents in the capital currently range from UAH7,000 to UAH16,000 ($263 to $600) for one-room apartments, UAH8,000 to UAH30,000 ($300 to $1,124) for two-room apartments and UAH11,000 to UAH55,700 ($412 to $2,087) for three-room apartments. Rents are lowest in Desnyanskiy, Kyiv’s
69 UKRAINE Country Report September 2021 www.intellinews.com