How much can you rent an apartment for and is it really that expensive? In order to answer this question, we decided not only to tell you about current prices, but also to compare them with a kind of standard. How much does rent cost in Uzhgorod and Lviv and how did New York sneak into our material? Read on and find out.
The place of Ukrainian cities in the housing cost ranking
Living is expensive these days, but compared to the average New York bill, the expenses of the average Ukrainian seem meager. What does America have to do with it? And given that in the housing cost ranking from Numbeo, New York is taken as a standard and equals 100%, and all other cities are assessed in comparison with it. The rating included 218 megacities, including many Ukrainian ones. All of them were assessed in several categories. Thus, the prices for renting apartments, food, utilities, average bills in restaurants and the purchasing power of citizens were taken into account. Compared to New York, Kyiv seems quite affordable:
- food prices are 73% lower;
- rental housing costs are 89% lower;
- the average bill in a restaurant is 76% lower;
- the average Ukrainian salary is 57% lower.
Geneva and Zurich topped the rating, which indicates a high cost of living. The largest cities of Ukraine lag far behind them:
- Lviv - 204th place with a mark of 25.8% (in January 2024 it was 28.4%);
- Odessa is 202nd place with a mark of 27.2% (in January 2024 it was 29.5%);
- Kyiv is 199th place with a mark of 28.6% (in January 2024 it was 32.3%).
We specifically indicated the previous indicators in brackets to show you the changing situation in dynamics. These minor fluctuations in positions in the rating indicate that over the past six months, the cost of living and rent in particular have noticeably decreased in large cities of Ukraine. We suggest taking a closer look at the real estate markets of Lviv and Uzhgorod, since they have recently become increasingly interesting to young investors.
Rent in Lviv and Uzhgorod
In Uzhgorod and Lviv even increasing demand is not so easy to shake stability. The cost of renting apartments with good repairs and in comfortable locations remains within the same amounts.
If you want to settle in the Lion City, prepare your wallets for such expenses:
- a one-room apartment on the secondary market - 12,000-16,000 UAH per month;
- one-room apartment in a new building - from 16,000 UAH/month;
- two-room apartment in a new building - 18,000-25,000 UAH/month.
In Uzhgorod, prices are not much different from Lviv:
- one-room apartment in a new building - 15,000-16,000 UAH/month;
- two-room apartment - from 20,000 UAH/month;
- two-room apartment in an elite complex - 30,000-40,000 UAH/month.
The cardinal difference between Uzhgorod and Lviv is striking in the last point. Currently, premium and elite class residential complexes are especially popular in Uzhgorod. Of course, their prices are much higher than the city average.
The growing demand has little effect on the pricing policy of Western cities, which cannot be said about the capital. In just one summer of 2024, prices have increased significantly:
- apartments costing from 10,000 UAH/month have become 20% more expensive;
- apartments with rental prices from 20,000 UAH/month have increased by 10-15%.
This trend is directly related to the continuation of mass migration within the country and may continue until the end of the war.