Housing market in Kyiv in March slightly up, start of revival possible in fall, says realtors association

Kyiv, March 25 (Interfax-Ukraine) – A slight rise in the number of deals was seen on the real estate market in Kyiv in March 2009, according to the head of the committee for regional policy at the Ukrainian Association of Realtors, Serhiy Zlyden.

"We're now seeing a [rise in activity], in which postponed demand again emerged, and the number of deals and activity on the market in March is growing, according to polls of our colleagues," Zlyden said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Tuesday.

He said that if stability returns to the economy, in particular, the stability of the hryvnia exchange rate, this slight increase in spring or summer would stabilize the situation on the real estate market in Kyiv, which, in turn, would lead to the growth of the market in the autumn.

"If there are no national currency exchange rate deviations, it's obvious that this rise [in the market] will bring stabilization in spring... If it does not occur, we would expect stabilization in Kyiv in late spring or in summer. If we see those things that we're predicting now in summer, autumn would bring certain activity for moving the market forward," Zlyden said.

However, the association's president, Andriy Shulha, said that he does not believe that the slight increase in the activity on the market in March and the relatively slow fall of prices of real estate means that the market has reached rock bottom.

"Various segments of the market behave in different ways, and various geographical places in Ukraine give different data. In some cities and towns, the fall in prices has stopped, and in other regions it is still continuing. There are regions [Kharkiv, Odesa, Luhansk], where growth is seen," he told Interfax-Ukraine before the press conference.

He said that the return of the market to the number of deals and the prices seen before the crisis period would be slow, taking one or two years, and some segments such as apartments in old buildings or remote industrial areas would not regain their share of the market in terms of the number of deals and their value.

The Ukrainian Association of Realtors has been operating on the Ukrainian real estate market since 1995.