Those fleeing Kyiv will have to tighten their belts in Western Ukraine and pay much higher rent.
Kyiv residents planning to move to Western Ukraine to escape the shelling will have to spend a large portion of their income on rent – due to increased demand, landlords have jacked up prices that are now completely out of line with local salaries.
This was stated by Lyudmila Kiryukhina, head of the analytical department of the real estate search service LUN , on the air of the Kommersant Ukrainian video blog , as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent.
The presenter asked how affordable housing is in Western Ukraine today for residents of other regions who are forced to move to safer areas.
The expert noted that in Kyiv , rent for a one-room apartment currently takes up 40% to 48% of income, while in Uzhgorod it is 100% of the average local salary, and in Lviv-Ivano-Frankivsk, 76% to 78%.
At the same time, she says that, according to the housing affordability index, housing is considered affordable when no more than 30% of a person's salary goes towards it.
"How affordable is rent in the West? We see that the figures are quite high. It takes up a very high percentage of wages. 100% in Ivano-Frankivsk. Even 103, not 100, is a lot," the analyst emphasized.
According to her, now Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Uzhgorod “ will be less accessible for Kyiv residents .”
"In Kyiv, it's 48%; in Lviv, for a Kyiv resident, it's 66%, which is even higher. And even in Ivano-Frankivsk, it's 60%," she notes.
Those fleeing Kyiv will have to tighten their belts in Western Ukraine and pay much more for housing.