Housing prices on the secondary market in Kyiv are expected to continue falling by 1.5-2% every month until the spring of 2011, when the market will revive, forecasts the president of the Union of Real Estate Specialists of Ukraine, Oleksandr Rubanov.
"Prices will fall by 1.5-2% per month on average until the spring of 2011, and this mainly applies to business class apartments, and to a lesser extent it could apply to economy class apartments. I link this with the seasonal market reanimation, although by summer we'll return to a situation in which the prices would fall," he told the press at a press conference in Kyiv on Thursday.
He said that at present the average price of one square meter on the secondary market in Kyiv is $1,900, while the difference in the prices proposed and real prices of the deal for economy class apartments reaches 5%, and for business class apartments – up to 20%.
"Autumn did not justify our expectations. We see a stable trend of price falls in almost all property segments," he said.
Rubanov said that in October around 300-400 deals on the sale and purchase of property on the secondary market in Kyiv were signed, which is almost the same as the indicator of the most slumping period of June-July 2008.
In turn, the head of the national council of Chamber of Realtors of Ukraine, Oleksandr Bondarenko, said that in November no more than 300 deals would be signed.
He said that today deals linked to the expansion of space are signed on the secondary market.
He said that today a one-room apartment in Kyiv on the secondary market after house commissioning could be bought for $1,500 per square meter.
"There are no lines for such apartments. There were only two visits to these apartments last month," he said.
He added that today the average price of one square meter in Dnipropetrovsk on the secondary market is around $1,000, in Lviv - $1,300, Kharkiv - $940, Odesa - $1,200 and Zaporizhia - $800.
The experts said that affordable mortgage credits, the settling of land plot issues for constructors and the stimulation of small and medium business development are needed to restore the housing market.
