The Kyiv and Lviv regions together accounted for over 1.1 million square meters of new residential construction reported in Ukraine from January through June 2026.
According to the State Statistics Service, 599,300 square meters were reported in the Kyiv region and 501,500 square meters in the Lviv region.
Another 437,900 square meters were accounted for by Kyiv, 328,700 square meters by the Odesa region, and 248,400 square meters by the Ivano-Frankivsk region.
The concentration is particularly noticeable in terms of the number of future apartments. In the Kyiv region, approximately 9.1 thousand apartments were announced; in the Lviv region, 7.2 thousand; and in the Ivano-Frankivsk region, 5.8 thousand
Together, these three regions alone accounted for over 22 thousand apartments—that is, a significant portion of the total new supply of multifamily housing announced nationwide in the first half of the year.
The regional breakdown reflects an ongoing redistribution of development activity. Kyiv and the Kyiv region remain the largest metropolitan market, while the Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk regions maintain a significant volume of construction in the western part of the country.
At the same time, the trend is uneven: in the Kyiv region, the volume remained virtually unchanged from last year’s level, while in Kyiv it decreased by 10.7%, and in the Ivano-Frankivsk region—by 20.5%.
Source: State Statistics Service of Ukraine.
Despite a sharp recovery in 2025 and growth in indicators in the second quarter of 2026, Ukraine’s new housing construction market remains significantly below the pre-war level.
According to the Experts Club information and analytical center, based on data from the State Statistics Service, the total area of new housing construction in 2025 amounted to 5.8 million sq. m, increasing by 49.4% compared with 2024.
However, compared with 2021, when the figure reached 12.7 million sq. m, the volume remained approximately 54% lower, that is, more than twice as low.
In 2022, the area of new construction amounted to 6.6 million sq. m, in 2023 — 4.2 million sq. m, and in 2024 — 3.9 million sq. m.
Thus, the lowest figure for the period under review was recorded in 2024, after which the market began to recover noticeably in 2025.
In the second quarter of 2026, this process continued: the area of residential buildings declared for the start of construction increased by 6.1% year on year — to 1.65 million sq. m.
At the same time, the sustainability of the recovery remains ambiguous. For the entire first half of the year, the area of new apartment building construction was 2.3% lower than a year earlier, while the number of declared apartments decreased by 6%.
At the same time, construction costs continue to rise rapidly. In July 2026, construction prices were 23.7% higher than in July of the previous year.
Housing prices themselves are also rising: in the second quarter of 2026, they increased by 19.6% year on year and by 3.8% compared with the first quarter.
Thus, the Ukrainian market is simultaneously facing a recovery in construction activity, high inflation in construction costs, and a significant lag behind the supply volumes typical of the period before the full-scale war.
The Finnish company Happy Nordic Living Oy plans to implement two projects in the Kyiv region—to build a factory for the production of prefabricated wooden structures and to create a pilot residential complex for residents of the region who have been affected by Russian attacks, as well as internally displaced persons (IDPs), according to a Wednesday report on the website of the Kyiv Regional Military Administration.
Natalia Gavatyuk, Deputy Head of the Kyiv Regional State Administration, held a meeting with Timo Mikkonen, CEO of Happy Nordic Living Oy, and his team, during which the parties discussed the prospects for implementing the investment project and the next steps for its launch.
According to the report, the plant is expected to create approximately 400 jobs: “Currently, sites in the region’s industrial parks are being considered for the production facility. This approach will allow for the necessary infrastructure to be prepared more quickly and for the project to move forward.”
At the same time, the company is considering the possibility of creating a pilot housing complex in the Kyiv region for residents of the region who have been affected by Russian attacks, as well as internally displaced persons (IDPs).
During the meeting, the parties agreed on mechanisms for further trilateral cooperation between the Kyiv Regional State Administration, Happy Nordic Living Oy, and consulting partner UVT GROUP to prepare a roadmap for the project.
Labor shortages, high construction costs, and the slow implementation of reforms and permitting procedures are the main challenges facing developers and architects in Ukraine during the war, according to representatives of the construction industry who spoke at the roundtable discussion “Building the Future: Development in Wartime.”
“There is a very severe shortage of construction workers. We all felt this problem this past spring. As a company owner, I am looking for people to finish building our projects,” said Oleksiy Baranov, founder and CEO of A Development, at the roundtable hosted by the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
In addition to purely construction-related specialties, there is also a shortage of architects on the market, said Yulia Polyukhovich, chief architect of the A Development project.
“There are many other challenges during the war. For example, there is a very severe shortage of personnel—there are very few architects right now. This is a very serious challenge, because whereas previously three or four architects would work on a project, now there may be only one,” she explained.
At the same time, architects must quickly adapt projects to reflect changes in building codes and standards, particularly regarding safety, the expert noted.
As Vitaliy Borul, CEO of CREDO Development, noted, the construction of underground shelters with emergency exits is a significant expense for developers, and therefore the government should compensate for the cost of building them.
“It looks cool, it’s safe, but it’s very expensive. I believe the government should compensate for the cost of underground shelters. The government is responsible for people’s safety, so we need to reach some kind of agreement with the government, and it should cover these costs,” the expert said.
Developers have also seen a significant increase in construction costs. Furthermore, the market reacts to every enemy attack on the city—after “strikes,” housing sales drop. Insurance against construction risks is also very expensive, Baranov noted.
“Before the war, the calculation was simple: the cost of materials (concrete or brickwork) was equal to the cost of labor. Today, the cost of labor exceeds the cost of materials by 2–3 times,” said the founder of A Development.
According to Baranov, significant obstacles are also created by unresolved procedures regarding the adoption of subordinate legislation by the government and ministries, particularly in the area of cultural heritage protection. At the same time, Kyiv’s local authorities have not considered land allocation requests for 1.5 years.
“For example, amendments were made to the law on cultural heritage, but the Ministry of Culture has not yet approved the relevant regulations. In May 2022, amendments came into effect under which it is impossible to carry out any work in the central historic area without designated zones and regulations. Yet the procedure was only approved in May of this year—meaning four years have passed. And yet, for example, there is still no procedure regarding heritage sites,” he noted.
Baranov emphasized that construction in Kyiv’s historic center must be well-thought-out and transparent, but at the same time controlled by the city.
“Kyiv must set an example. Construction is very expensive, and you can’t just erase a building with an eraser. We need to adopt an approach that ensures everything happens transparently and quickly, while still building structures that will remain relevant for years to come,” the expert said.
The Experts Club analytical center analyzed data from the international consulting firm Savills on real estate market trends in the world’s leading countries and identified a number of trends in the European real estate market in 2026.
Investment in European real estate reached 54 billion euros in the second quarter of 2026, up 7.7% year-over-year, according to Savills data.
Despite the overall increase in transaction volume, Savills characterizes the recovery of the European market as uneven. Escalating macroeconomic and geopolitical risks have forced investors to raise their standards for property quality.
Capital is now primarily directed toward real estate that provides a stable cash flow, has a transparent market value, and is located in segments with long-term structural demand.
One of the main beneficiaries of this new investment strategy has been so-called “living real estate.”
In the first half of 2026, multifamily rental housing, specialized student dormitories, senior living facilities, and housing for the elderly already accounted for 29% of all real estate investments in Europe.
Thus, nearly one in every three euros of institutional capital directed toward European real estate went to properties directly related to residential living.
The growing interest in this sector is linked to a housing shortage in many major European cities, rising rents, demographic changes, and relatively stable income streams compared to some traditional types of commercial real estate.
At the same time, investor attitudes toward office properties are shifting. High-quality, modern office buildings in central business districts remain in demand, while outdated and poorly located properties are significantly harder to sell or finance.
According to Savills, the market is effectively divided into two types of assets. In the first category, investors are willing to compete for high-quality properties with reliable tenants and predictable income. In the second, real estate with a poor location, high future costs, or uncertain demand may remain outside the scope of investment interest for a long time.
Savills notes that Europe remains an important destination for global capital, but investment requirements have become significantly stricter.
Markets where a significant price correction has already occurred and a clearer entry point for investors has emerged have the best chances of attracting capital. An additional advantage is the limited supply of new properties and stable demand from tenants.
“The recovery is taking place in stages and is driven by investor confidence in specific deals, rather than a general willingness to take risks,” note Savills analysts.
Thus, the European real estate market is gradually emerging from a period of sharp interest rate hikes and asset revaluation; however, the new investment cycle differs significantly from the previous one. Capital is increasingly being directed not simply toward real estate as an asset class, but toward specific segments with the most predictable long-term demand.
Source: Savills, Global Capital Markets Research Q2 2026 — Europe.
According to Experts.news, residential real estate and institutional leasing became one of the fastest-growing segments of the Central and Eastern European investment market in the first half of 2026.
The residential/living segment accounted for 19% of investments in commercial real estate in the CEE-6, compared to just 7% a year earlier, according to Colliers data.
Thus, its share nearly tripled in less than a year and approached the levels of the traditionally largest real estate classes—offices and retail properties.
One of the most telling examples was Poland, where the largest transaction in the history of the local PRS (institutional rental housing) market took place in the first half of the year.
Vantage Development acquired 18 completed Resi4Rent projects for 575 million euros. The portfolio includes 5,322 apartments in Warsaw, Kraków, Wrocław, Gdańsk, Łódź, and Poznań.
This transaction reflects growing interest among large investors in residential properties intended not for the resale of individual apartments, but for long-term professional leasing of entire portfolios.
This model is widespread in Western Europe, but in Central and Eastern Europe, the institutional rental market is much younger and has more room for growth.
Interest in the segment is driven by urbanization, high housing purchase costs, labor mobility, and growing demand for professionally managed rental housing in the region’s largest cities.
According to Colliers, with total investment in the CEE-6 region amounting to 5.8 billion euros, the market is gradually becoming more diversified, and residential/living has already become one of the top four investment sectors.
