Affordable housing Mykolaiv-style: renting a one-room apartment is cheaper than "YeOselu"

Mykolaiv has entered the list of frontline cities where renting housing is currently cheaper than buying an apartment under the state program “eOselya”. According to analysts’ calculations, the difference between renting a one-room apartment and the monthly mortgage payment in the city is several thousand hryvnias. Analysts at OLX Real Estate compared the median cost of renting one-room apartments in different cities of Ukraine with approximate monthly payments under the “eOselya” program.

In Mykolaiv the average rent for a one-room apartment is over 6 thousand hryvnias per month. At the same time the estimated payment under “eOselya” reaches over 11 thousand hryvnias. That is, for the city’s residents renting such housing is now almost twice as cheap as the mortgage payment.

In Kharkiv renting a one-room apartment is about 6.5 thousand hryvnias per month, while the payment under the program exceeds 10 thousand hryvnias.

In Sumy rent is 6.8 thousand hryvnias versus 11.5 thousand hryvnias under “eOselya”.

Chernihiv – 7.5 thousand hryvnias versus 13 thousand hryvnias.

In Odesa rent for a one-room apartment is about ten thousand hryvnias, while the payment – almost 13 thousand hryvnias.

In Zaporizhzhia renting a one-room apartment costs on average 7 thousand hryvnias per month, and the payment under “eOselya” – almost 10 thousand hryvnias.

In Kropyvnytskyi rent is 8 thousand hryvnias, while the monthly payment under the program – 12.3 thousand hryvnias.

Analysts explain this difference by security risks and lower demand for housing in frontline cities. These factors hold down rental rates and make renting financially more advantageous in the short term. At the same time, in most relatively safe regions of Ukraine the situation is the opposite. There, monthly payments under “eOselya” have already approached the cost of rent or even become lower than it.

Analysts at OLX Real Estate note that if funds for a down payment are available, buying a home under the “eOselya” program can be more advantageous in the long term in many regions.

For example, in Uzhhorod the average rent for a one-room apartment is almost 22 thousand hryvnias per month, while the program payment is about 15.7 thousand hryvnias. In the Lviv region the payment under “eOselya” is 17 thousand hryvnias versus 19.4 thousand hryvnias rent.

In Ivano-Frankivsk the payment under the program is 14.7 thousand hryvnias, while rent is 17.2 thousand hryvnias.

In Volyn the mortgage payment is estimated at 14 thousand hryvnias versus 15 thousand hryvnias rent.

In Kyiv the monthly payment for “eOselya” is 18.3 thousand hryvnias, and rent – 16 thousand hryvnias.

In Vinnytsia the program payment exceeds 15 thousand hryvnias versus 13.5 thousand hryvnias rent.

In Ternopil – 14.8 thousand hryvnias versus 13 thousand hryvnias,

in Rivne – 14.3 thousand hryvnias versus 12 thousand hryvnias,

in Khmelnytskyi – 13 thousand hryvnias versus 11.5 thousand hryvnias.

For Mykolaiv these figures once again show the reality of the frontline housing market: buying may look attractive in the future, but the monthly burden for many families today remains significantly higher than rent. And in conditions of war and constant security risks the decision about a mortgage becomes not only a financial but also a very nerve‑wracking choice.

Previously we wrote:

• 42 thousand dollars for a house: Mykolaiv among the cities with the cheapest housing
• Senkevych wants to build and rent out housing for Mykolaiv residents
• An apartment not only in dreams? Ukraine has planned a 25-year mortgage at reasonable interest rates
• Mobilized military personnel received the right to a mortgage at 3 percent
• In Mykolaiv up to 200,000 UAH will be allocated for an initial housing down payment: who can receive compensation