One-bedroom apartments in Ukraine have become scarcer: Chernivtsi is the only city with growing supply

According to data from the OLX Real Estate platform, published by RBC-Ukraine, the number of one-bedroom apartments listed for sale and long-term rental has declined over the past year in most major Ukrainian cities. Chernivtsi was the exception — the only city among those analyzed where supply grew in both segments: on the secondary sales market the number of listings increased by 5%, while on the long-term rental market it rose by 10%. Thus, the overall national trend points to a narrowing of the available pool of one-bedroom housing, which, against the backdrop of persistently high demand, may exert additional pressure on prices and on competition between buyers and tenants.

Secondary sales market: from a 2% decline to a drop of over 40%

The segment of one-bedroom apartment sales on the secondary market showed predominantly negative dynamics. The sharpest contraction in supply — over 40% — was recorded in Ternopil, Khmelnytskyi and Cherkasy. In Dnipro and Kherson the number of sale listings fell by 28%, in Mykolaiv by 24%. In Lviv, Kyiv and Chernihiv supply shrank by 18%. The smallest decline over the year was recorded in Odesa — just 2%. In Rivne the figure was −35%, in Zhytomyr −34%, in Zaporizhzhia −33%, and in Kropyvnytskyi −31%. The only city with positive dynamics in this segment was Chernivtsi (+5%).

Long-term rental market: five cities with growing supply

The picture is somewhat different on the long-term rental market: in five cities the number of one-bedroom apartment rental listings rose over the year. The leader in growth was Lutsk, where supply increased by 23%. It was followed by Chernivtsi (+10%), Kyiv (+6%), Vinnytsia (+4%) and Ivano-Frankivsk (+3%). In the remaining cities a decline was recorded: in Kharkiv and Kropyvnytskyi — 29%, in Mykolaiv — 28%, in Cherkasy and Dnipro — 26%, in Lviv — 15%, in Chernihiv — 11%, in Kherson — 8%, in Poltava — 4%, in Odesa — 3%. In Rivne the drop was 34%, in Zhytomyr — 33%, in Zaporizhzhia — 31%.

Cities with opposite dynamics in the two segments

Interestingly, in a number of cities supply for sale and for rental moved in opposite directions. In Kyiv the number of one-bedroom apartments for sale fell by 18% over the year, while long-term rental supply rose by 6%. In Vinnytsia supply for sale dropped by 35%, while in rental it grew by 4%. In Lutsk a 14% decline in sales was recorded alongside a 23% rise in rentals. In Ivano-Frankivsk the dynamics were −7% in sales and +3% in rentals. Such discrepancies may indicate that some owners who previously listed apartments for sale are redirecting them to the rental market, or that local migration processes are creating short-term demand for long-term housing.

Context: competition and affordability of one-bedroom housing

According to previously published OLX data, competition for one-bedroom apartments on Ukraine's rental market is almost four times higher than competition on the purchase market. In some regions, more than 40 potential tenants compete for a single vacant apartment. Meanwhile, the cost of renting a one-bedroom apartment for young people ranges from 14% to 76% of the average monthly salary depending on the city, while buying such housing in the most expensive Ukrainian cities requires saving for around ten years. The reduction in the number of listings, analysts stress, does not in itself mean a corresponding fall in demand: the volume of supply is influenced by owner activity, the speed of transactions, local demand, migration processes and the overall conditions of a given market. OLX statistics reflect changes in the number of available listings, not the level of demand directly.

Conclusions and outlook

The combined data for 2025–2026 paint a picture of a sustained contraction in the supply of one-bedroom apartments in the overwhelming majority of Ukrainian cities. Chernivtsi remains an anomaly with positive dynamics in both segments, which may be linked to local factors — an inflow of population, construction activity or a redistribution of the housing stock. For the remaining cities, the trend toward a shrinking supply of available one-bedroom housing against the backdrop of persistently high demand creates conditions for further intensifying competition on the rental market and for supporting price levels on the secondary sales market. Monitoring dynamics over the coming quarters will help determine whether the recorded contraction is a temporary effect or a structural shift in the affordable housing market.