KYIV. Sept 15 (Interfax-Ukraine) - The cost of apartments in the secondary housing market in Kyiv in January-June 2017 decreased in the hryvnia by 6.2% compared to the same period in 2016 and will continue falling in future, Kostiantyn Oliynyk, the deputy head of the strategic consulting department at UTG, has stated.

"Frozen prices in the hryvnia in the secondary housing market are constantly falling in U.S. dollars. But in 2017 it began declining even in the hryvnia, primarily due to a drop in interest in the secondary housing market. The areas that were massively built up in the 1950-1960s, including Voskresenka, Borschahivka, Karavayevi Dachi, are depreciating faster than the housing of a better quality, new and closer to the center," the expert said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine.

He said at present a significant redistribution of demand in the direction of primary housing is being observed in the housing market of Kyiv.

"Secondary housing (about 60,000 apartments) accounted for a lion's share in the structure of sales in 2008-2011. Now the market share of non-liquidity secondary housing, which does not provide value for buyers, is growing and the demand is moving to the primary market," he said.

In his opinion, partly the transfer of demand is related to an almost complete lack of mortgage, while the instrument of payments in installments from developers is working. Thus, only 765 new loans under mortgage programs were granted in 2016.