08 September 2026, 16:54
Residents of Kherson are flocking to Mykolaiv in search of housing: prices have risen to 25,000
A destroyed building in Kherson. Photo: Kherson Regional State Administration
In Kherson, home purchases have practically come to a standstill, while in Mykolaiv, due to a new wave of people moving in from Kherson, affordable rental housing has almost disappeared, and rental prices there have approached those in Odesa.
Vladislav Gorin, head of a real estate agency, spoke about this in an interview with “Vgoru.”
According to him, back in the spring and early summer, real estate in Kherson was gradually selling. However, over the past month and a half to two months, the market has effectively come to a standstill.
Gorin attributes this primarily to the deteriorating security situation—an increase in drone attacks, strikes with guided aerial bombs, and the attack on the Kherson Thermal Power Plant. As a result, potential buyers are not only backing out of home purchases but have also stopped coming to view properties.
At the same time, a new wave of people leaving Kherson is affecting the rental market in Mykolaiv. As the expert noted, the city has had higher rental prices for several years now due to the influx of people from Kherson, and the situation has now become even more complicated.
It is now practically impossible to find affordable housing in Mykolaiv. Previously, renting a decent one-bedroom apartment could cost around 7,000–8,000 hryvnias, and an inexpensive two-bedroom apartment—around 8,000. Now, listings with prices up to 10,000 hryvnias may exist only on paper: when people call, it turns out that the apartment has already been rented or there is a waiting list for it.
According to Gorin, there are 5–10 applicants for each apartment. At the same time, listings show two-room apartments for 20,000–25,000 hryvnias, and, in his estimation, these aren’t necessarily luxury apartments.
He predicts that if the number of Kherson residents moving to Mykolaiv continues to grow, the situation in the local rental market could deteriorate even further. This could be particularly evident in the winter due to heating problems in Kherson.
Currently, according to the expert, 10,000 hryvnias can be considered the approximate minimum budget for finding rental housing in Mykolaiv. Depending on the apartment, the price can reach 20,000–24,000 hryvnias. He also noted that at over 10,000 hryvnias, rent in Mykolaiv is already approaching Odesa’s level.
Regarding home purchases in Odesa, Gorin did not note a sharp increase in demand from people in Kherson. According to him, those who had sufficient funds to buy an apartment mostly did so earlier. Now, among those leaving Kherson due to the security situation, there are significantly more people who cannot afford to buy a home right away, so they opt to rent first.
Separately, during the interview, they discussed the use of“eVidnovlennia” housing certificates in Odesa.
Gorin noted that housing available for purchase with a certificate does exist in Odesa, and the number of property owners willing to accept cashless payments under the program has increased. At the same time, he cautioned that large-scale funding of the program could create artificial hype in the market and drive up prices.
According to him, the main problem at present is insufficient funding. The expert stated that after payment delays in the spring, funding effectively came to a halt, and the funds currently allocated, in his opinion, are insufficient for all certificate holders awaiting payments.
He also estimated that there were over 88,000 confirmed certificates this summer, but less than half of them had been redeemed. At the same time, he noted that these figures were from memory and not data prepared specifically for the interview.
