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lowest average price for renting a one-room apartment was recorded in the Kherson and Sumy regions, at ₴3,250 and ₴4,000. At the same time, the median price for housing under construction as of October 2023 in Lviv is ₴48,100 per square metre, and in Kyiv, it is ₴47,000 per square metre, reported LUN top manager Olena Unanyan. "For the first time, Lviv took first place by a small margin: the average price is only 2% more expensive than in Kyiv," she commented. Uzhgorod took third place with ₴42,000 per square metre, overtaking Dnipro (₴41,600) and Odesa (₴36,600).
Office real estate in Kyiv has a high vacancy rate. According to Colliers Ukraine company, a record number of vacant offices was recorded in Kyiv this year. Before the start of the war, at the end of 2021, the vacancy was almost 12%, at the end of 2022 - 17%, and in the first half of 2023 - 21%. Some tenants moved to safer western regions or other countries weeks before the full-scale invasion began. In addition, to optimize costs, some companies have decided to move from expensive office centers to cheaper premises as far as possible from the central part of the city. "In this segment, non-professional offices, there are many offers. And this is observed not only in Kyiv but also in many Ukrainian cities," experts say. However, the situation is gradually improving. "More and more companies insist that employees return to work in the office. Therefore, the situation is stabilizing, rental rates have stopped decreasing, and the vacancy rate, although still high, is no longer increasing," market participants claim.
Ukrainians have increased investment in business-class real estate. With the beginning of autumn, deals on purchasing business-class apartments with an average price of $2,000 per square meter have increased in the primary real estate market, said the top manager of the DIM group of companies, Daria Bedya. “Currently, business class real estate occupies 25% of the sales structure, though this indicator was at 15% in the spring. Such signals are encouraging, so we expect an increase in demand this fall. Of course, everything will depend on the news at the front, the frequency and consequences of the shelling of the capital, and possible power outages.” As she clarified, the level of demand is directly influenced by the project itself and its concept, stage, construction speed, the reputation of the developer, and the flexibility of purchase terms. The area of one-room apartments, which are most often bought in the business segment, is 50-55 square meters, two-room: 75-80, three-room: 100-120.
9.1.5 Retail sector news
9.1.6 Agriculture sector news
Ukraine collected 57.6 million tons of grain and exported more than 8 million tons, but losses will exceed $3.2B. As of October 20, Ukrainian farmers have already gathered 57.6 million tons of grain and oil crops in the new harvest. Ukrainian farmers collected more than 39.23 million tons of grain and 18.46 million tons of oil. In the new marketing season the state exported 8.02 million tons of grain and legumes. As for flour, this season's exports increased to 40,300 tons against 32,100 tons in the corresponding period last year. At the same time, as Reuters writes, Ukraine's grain and oilseed sector may lose more than $3.2B in 2023 due to high logistics costs and rising fuel
82 UKRAINE Country Report November 2023 www.intellinews.com