Housing near the front: how prices and demand for apartments have changed over the year

In the front-line regions of Ukraine, an increase in the cost of housing was recorded during the year, while the interest of buyers in it decreased noticeably. These conclusions were reached by analysts of the OLX Real Estate platform, who studied the situation in the market of one-room apartments on the secondary market in the eastern and southeastern regions.

From February 2025 to February 2026, median prices for the purchase of housing in most front-line regions increased. The most noticeable increase in price was recorded in the Kharkiv region. Here, the average cost of a one-room apartment on the secondary market rose by 18% and reached 1 million UAH (approximately $22.6 thousand).

In Kharkiv itself, prices also showed a significant increase - by 16%, to the level of 1.1 million UAH ($24.9 thousand). The second place in terms of price increase was taken by Sumy region, where the median price increased by 15% and amounted to 862 thousand UAH ($19.5 thousand). In Sumy, the increase was even greater — 19%, which raised the cost to 992 thousand UAH ($22.4 thousand).

More moderate growth rates were observed in Dnipropetrovsk region and Chernihiv region. There, prices increased within 8–12%, reaching 1.1 million UAH ($24.9 thousand) and 1.4 million UAH ($31.7 thousand), respectively. In large cities of these regions, housing is even more expensive: in Dnipro — about 1.4 million UAH ($31.7 thousand), and in Chernihiv — about 1.5 million UAH ($33.9 thousand).

In Kherson region, the growth was more restrained — at the level of 6%. As a result, the median price reached 632 thousand UAH ($14.3 thousand). For approximately the same amount, a one-room apartment could be purchased in Kherson.

The only region where a decrease in prices was recorded was Zaporizhzhia region. Here, as in Zaporizhzhia, the median cost decreased by approximately 4% and amounted to about 644 thousand UAH ($14.6 thousand).

Despite the general increase in prices, demand for housing in the front-line regions decreased. In February 2026, the number of responses to ads for the sale of one-room apartments decreased by 15–45% compared to the same period in 2025. The largest drop in activity was recorded in Chernihiv and the region (down to -44%), Kharkiv and the region (down to -39%), and Dnipro and the region (down to -35%).

Thus, the real estate market near the war zone demonstrates contradictory dynamics: on the one hand, a gradual increase in prices, on the other, a significant decrease in buyer interest, reflecting the general risks and uncertainty in these regions.