Foreigners’ interest in purchasing premium housing in Ukraine for investment purposes is gradually recovering, developers told Interfax-Ukraine.
“Interest from foreign citizens has recovered, and in some cases, such as our projects, the number of deals with foreigners exceeds the number of deals with Ukrainians. Our clients include Spaniards, Japanese, Canadians, and others who are investing in business and premium class properties with a clear focus on the future. They see potential in both long-term rentals and growth in value,” said Irina Mikhaleva, CMO of Alliance Novobud.
According to Susanna Karakhanian, sales director at Greenville, foreign clients are considering both investment purchases and homes for themselves, but are postponing their purchases until safer times.
“Interest from non-residents has partially recovered recently. We are seeing a trend where foreigners regularly visit apartments, but are not buying yet — deferred demand, waiting for stabilization in Ukraine,” she explained.
Although the apartments of the Odessa developer “Two Academics” are mainly purchased by local residents (up to 60% of customers), the share of deals with foreign investors has increased over the past year and a half, the company said.
“In terms of geography, 55-60% are local residents, in our case Odessa. Up to 30% are from other cities in Ukraine. However, over the past year, these figures have begun to change with the emergence of foreign investors. For the period 2024-2025, 35% of deals are being made with foreign investors: the UAE, Slovakia, Turkey, Italy, the US, Greece, Israel, and Romania,” said Maxim Odintsov, development director of the construction company Dva Akademika.
In addition, foreigners continue to show interest in Ukrainian residential projects where foreign companies are involved as partners, according to RIEL.
“We have projects that foreigners are quite interested in. For example, Maxima Residence has traditionally attracted foreigners, particularly Turkish citizens. This is because it is a joint project between RIEL and Turkish developer Bosphorus Development,” explained Zoryana Zemlinska, sales coordinator at RIEL in Kyiv.
At the same time, KAN Development noted that the share of foreigners among buyers remains insignificant, and demand for premium housing is largely recovering due to people who invested before the war.
“The share of foreigners among buyers remains insignificant. These are mainly those who are considering investing with the expectation of a minimal cost of entry into the market,” the developer’s press service said in response to a request from Interfax-Ukraine.
According to Alexander Nasikovsky, managing partner of the DIM group of companies, Ukrainians who have been living abroad for a long time have appeared in the structure of demand for premium housing.
“We are observing the following trend: some buyers who have free funds are deliberately not taking them abroad, but are ‘parking’ them in real estate with a view to future price growth and preservation of asset value. As for foreign citizens, we do not see any activity on their part for reasons that are understandable to everyone. However, there is a small share of Ukrainians who have been living abroad for a long time,” the businessman noted.
Some 2,473 business and premium class apartments for a total of $419 million were sold in the primary market of Kyiv in 2019, while new De Luxe class objects are expected to enter the highest price segment of the market in 2020, according to a review by Kiev Standard. “In 2020, we pin our hopes on the De Luxe segment, which is new for the Kyiv market. According to our data, work is already underway on several projects in this class among the leading developers. The projects themselves, due to a lack of a similar supply and competition, will form a new level of demand in the high price segment,” the review says.
As a whole, in 2019 elite apartments with a total area of 217,000 square meters were sold in the capital. Of these, 25,000 square meters (181 apartments) were presented in the premium class, 192,000 square meters (2,292 apartments) in the business class.
According to Kiev Standard’s estimates, the volume of new elite housing supply in 2020 will amount to 4,000 apartments with a total area of 350,000 square meters.
As expected, foreign investors, who were previously not interested in the Ukrainian real estate market, will have a positive impact on the demand indicators in 2020.
“Negative rates on deposits in Western banks will force to consider new options for investments, including the primary real estate market of Kyiv. Unlike local investors, foreign ones are considering long-term investments,” the report says.
According to the report, in 2019 sales in 15 objects started in the market, 13 of which are new projects. The volume of the new offer amounted to 4,780 apartments with 367,900 square meters.
