Housing or survival: how much people pay for a home in Odesa and Mykolaiv

A mortgage loan under the eHousing program is becoming a real financial challenge for many Ukrainians: in western and central cities, it consumes most of their salaries, while in the south, particularly in Odesa and Mykolaiv, the burden remains relatively moderate.

LUN analysts have analyzed the financial burden of a mortgage under the government program eOselya for residents of different regions of Ukraine.

This is the share of the average salary that the borrower has to pay monthly to repay the housing loan.

The data shows a significant difference between cities. Mortgage payments create the greatest pressure in the western and some central regions. In particular, in Uzhhorod, the monthly mortgage payment accounts for about 79% of the average salary. In Lviv, the figure is 67%, and in Poltava, 61%.

In Rivne and Zhytomyr, mortgage payments account for about 55% of income each, and in Kyiv, 51%. In these cities, loan repayment actually requires almost all of the earnings of one working person.

In contrast, in a number of regions, mortgages remain relatively affordable. The smallest share of income to pay off a loan is in Zaporizhzhia - 26%, Ternopil - 27%, Kropyvnytskyi - 28%, and Kharkiv - 30%. The list of cities with a moderate burden also includes Mykolaiv, where the monthly payment for eHouse is about 34% of the average salary.

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In the south of the country, the situation looks heterogeneous. In Odesa, analysts estimate that the mortgage payment takes about 42% of the average income, which is significantly higher than in Mykolaiv, but lower than in the capital or western cities. There are no city-specific figures for Kherson Oblast, but the region remains outside the list of cities with both the highest and lowest mortgage burden, which indicates average or unstable housing affordability conditions.

Analysts note that not only the cost of housing but also the level of income in a particular region plays a key role in mortgage affordability. Even with similar real estate prices, the real ability to repay a loan varies significantly, making the eHouse program much more affordable for some cities and almost unaffordable for others.

In 2024, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine updated the requirements for housing available under the eHouse mortgage program, according to the Ministry of Economy.

Now the program is mainly focused on new buildings or housing put into operation no more than three years ago. At the same time, the conditions for internally displaced persons have become more flexible: they will be able to buy apartments and houses up to ten years old, whereas previously the limit was three years.

Анна Бальчінос