Investment Opportunities in Ukraine 2024

I) Real Estate

In real estate sometimes it’s possible to find good deals, which are way below the market price. There is the classical market explanation for this - the rule of supply and demand. If someone wants to sell at the market price - they might wait a long time, and if you want to sell quickly - you need to lower the price. 

(On the photo - the view from Ocean Plaza, spring 2024)

Here is the recent prices (per 1 square meter) from real estate developers. The price dynamics are from 12 recent months.

Lviv $1370 (up 13,22%)

Kyiv $1250 (down 2,36%)

Dnipro $1090 (down 0,91%)

Odesa $940 (down 4,08%)

Vinnytsya $940 (up 4,4%) 

Lutsk $840 (up 13,51%)

Ivano-Frankivsk $790 (up 19.70%)

Kharkiv $730 (up 10,61%)

This data and part of the data below are taken from Forbes magazine. 

Let’s also check the secondary market (average price per square meter for one room apartment - as usually the bigger the apartment is - the prices are lower). 

Lviv $1454,3 (up 19,5%)

Kyiv $1547 (up 2,10%)

Dnipro $921 (down 1,2%)

Odesa $948,7 (down 2,12%)

Vinnytsya $1130,4 (up 20,8%) 

Lutsk $1000 (up 21,7%)

Ivano-Frankivsk $871,3 (up 34.05%)

So we can state the rise in price in the western cities: Lviv, Lutsk, Ivano-Frankivsk. Lviv is understandably the biggest and most popular city in the west of Ukraine, but Lutsk surprised me. Lutsk is a cozy city and probably the reason of this rise is that it’s convenient to travel to Poland via Lutsk.

While Ivano-Frankivsk for many years stays at the top of the most comfortable Ukrainian cities and at the top of easiness to do business. 

The Carpathian Mountains are nearby and the new real estate is very stylish.

Also interesting observation that cities that are in bigger danger from russian aggression - Odesa and Kharkiv have not a significant drop in the real estate price. However Kharkiv prices are not taking into account the recent russian offensive in the region, it might lower the price a bit but not significantly. 

II) Land

The average price per hectare in 2023 was 37 000 UAH (around $1000) 

The land in Sumy and Chernihiv regions (close to russia) can cost 20 - 25 000 UAH and bring 12-13% APR while the land in central or western regions which is more expensive can bring 6,5 - 6,8 % APR

The benefits of investing in land:

1) Small entrance amount - the land parcel can be from 2 hectares, so the investment can be from a few thousand dollars

2) No need to manage the investment - usually land rent agreements are done for many years (i.e. for 15 years)

3) Unlike real estate the land can’t be ruined by Russians

4) Land is the asset that increases in price. Prices can rise significantly if Ukraine joins the EU. 

The land is a finite resource. Due to overpopulation of the Earth land, and especially agricultural land can be increased in price seriously, because we can’t produce or discover more land. I plan to consider investment in land personally in the future (to diversify my portfolio from crypto) 

III) State bonds

State bonds that were released in April 2024 have the following interest (in UAH):

1-year bond - 16,09% APR 

2-year - 17%

3,2 year - 18,3%

The bonds in Euro have a much smaller interest - 3,25%

The bond is easy to buy digitally and the investment amount can start from 1000 UAH (around $25) 

IV) Investment fund Inzhur

Inzhur is REIT fund (real estate investment trust) that invest into commercial real estate by a crowdfunding model.

Currently, they have an open fund «Inzhur Ocean» which they created in order to buy one of the most popular shopping malls in Kyiv Ocean Plaza. (It’s the best shopping mall in the center of Kyiv which is very good in design and very popular by visitors. It probably has the biggest concentration of wealthy people and cars and it’s possible to see famous people there). 

The minimal investment is 4000 UAH ($100) and the suggested ROI is up to 20% in $. (That’s necessary to state that it’s counted in dollars which makes this a much more attractive proposition compared to bonds) 

V) Tesla cars

It’s possible to invest in Tesla stocks, of course, but there is a possibility to invest in Tesla cars. Recently I’ve heard a story of one entrepreneur who has several old Teslas and rents them for a taxi. 

Right now in Ukraine the amount of Teslas is rising as Tesla owners in USA and EU change their models, and there is also a business of bringing broken Teslas, repairing and selling them.

Now Tesla costs from $15 000. Renting it to the taxi service or taxi driver will bring 1000 UAH ($25) per day or more. So this will be 365 000 UAH per year or around $9125.