Kyiv residents more actively move to other regions: capital's rental market sinks

The rental housing market in Kyiv this autumn shows a picture atypical for this period: instead of the traditional seasonal rush, demand is weakening and rental rates are declining, while in a number of western and central cities the number of people wanting to rent housing has sharply increased. Market participants attribute this, in particular, to the relocation of some Kyiv residents due to the intensification of Russian shelling.

At the beginning of October, a large number of available offers remains on the LUN long-term rental map practically in all districts of the capital. At the same time, the number of current listings alone does not allow assessing the pace of population outflow - there is no official operational statistics on the number of people who have left Kyiv.

However, several market indicators speak of weakening demand. According to LUN data cited by Glavcom, the average cost of renting a one-bedroom apartment in Kyiv in September was about 18 thousand hryvnias per month. Two-bedroom housing cost about 26 thousand hryvnias, three-bedroom - 44.2 thousand hryvnias.

At the same time, during September apartments in the capital became cheaper. One-bedroom apartments lost about 3% over the month, two-bedroom - almost 4%, and three-bedroom - about 5%. For the beginning of the school year, when Kyiv's rental market usually revives, such dynamics are atypical.

Realtors explain the situation primarily by the security factor. Potential tenants increasingly pay attention to the presence of a shelter, underground parking, autonomous power supply and the location of the building relative to objects that may be targets of Russian attacks.

In parallel, part of the demand has moved outside the capital. Glavcom writes about a new wave of moves from Kyiv to the western and central regions. In Rivne, local realtors associate the rise in prices, in particular, with the arrival of solvent tenants from the capital. In Ivano-Frankivsk, three-bedroom apartments are actively sought by families from Kyiv who plan to stay in the city for several months.

In the west of the country, the situation is actually opposite to Kyiv's. In Uzhhorod, Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk, demand exceeds supply, and affordable housing quickly disappears from the market. In a number of cities, rental rates have risen by tens of percent over the year.

Data from OLX also testifies to the weakening of the Kyiv market. As Forbes Ukraine wrote, in August the activity of tenants in Kyiv was declining, while in Kharkiv, Dnipro and a number of other large cities demand, on the contrary, noticeably increased.

Already in August, participants in the capital's real estate market recorded a redistribution of demand between Kyiv and the suburbs. Tenants began to more often choose housing outside the capital, especially houses and apartments with autonomous heating and backup power supply.

Thus, it would be premature to speak of a confirmed "mass outflow" of Kyiv's population solely on the number of rental listings. At the same time, several independent indicators - falling demand, lower rental rates, the absence of the traditional autumn rush and growing demand from Kyiv residents in other regions - point to a noticeable wave of relocations from the capital.

Based on materials from: LUN, Glavcom, Forbes Ukraine