Kyiv’s rental market had more advertised apartments ahead of winter, a shift that may reflect housing changes but cannot establish how many residents moved or where they went.
A comparison by LUN, a Ukrainian real estate data service, found active apartment-rental ads in Kyiv were 66% higher on Oct. 2, 2026, than on Aug. 1. Listings also rose 5.4% from Sept. 25 to Oct. 2. LUN checked ads in 22 cities on Aug. 1 and Oct. 2; those snapshots do not measure signed leases or count people who relocated.
Liudmyla Kiriukhina, head of LUN Statistics, linked the pattern to movement within Ukraine that the service had observed since mid-August. She said the ad totals provide no reliable count of relocations and do not explain their causes.
The same comparison recorded fewer active listings in three western cities: down 22% in Lviv, 59% in Ivano-Frankivsk and 61% in Uzhhorod between Aug. 1 and Oct. 2.
LUN’s Ukraine-wide rent statistics list one-room apartment figures of UAH 25,200 in Lviv, UAH 22,900 in Ivano-Frankivsk and UAH 36,700 in Uzhhorod. That page lists UAH 16,000 for Kyiv, but a separate October page gives UAH 17,000 at the start of the month and displays UAH 16,000 with a 6% year-over-year decline. The different reference points do not establish a single comparable late-October average for Kyiv.
The Kyiv Independent reported that a realtor identified only as Oleksandra described some residents moving abroad and others choosing western Ukraine. The outlet’s account came from an interview and does not quantify those moves.
Winter heating and electricity supply are also concerns. Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers said in April that significant damage to a Kyiv thermal power plant meant the city needed alternative energy sources to help maintain heat and electricity supplies, including during shelling.
