How Ukrainians choose an apartment: key requirements of tenants in 2025
18 November 13:41
In 2025, housing rentals in Ukraine have changed so much that the old rules for choosing an apartment no longer work. If tenants used to focus mainly on price and renovation, today completely different criteria have come to the fore. OLX Real Estate has shared the results of a study on what motivates Ukrainians to rent an apartment, what challenges they face during the search, and what landlords pay attention to, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports
What motivates Ukrainians to rent housing
40% of respondents plan to rent an apartment in the next few months, 37% are already renting, and 8% are in the process of paperwork.
Most often, Ukrainians rent because of the need to have a separate apartment – 51% of respondents said so, which is 13% more than last year.
Other reasons include:
- Change of living conditions (improvement of living conditions, increase of living space, etc.) – 37% of respondents said, which is 12% more than last year;
- moving for work or travel – 21%, 4% more than last year;
- needs related to the impact of the war – 26%, which is 3% less than last year;
- a desire to familiarize themselves with the available offers for the future – 16%, which is 3% more than last year.
Assessment of the cost of housing
When estimating the cost of housing, most renters (75%, up 8% year-on-year) rely on similar ads on real estate platforms.
35% consult with friends and relatives, 33% use analytical data on real estate websites, and a quarter of respondents use a price calculator on online housing search platforms, which is 8% more than last year.
11% of respondents trust realtors as experts in the real estate market.
Channels for searching for rental housing
Ukrainians mostly look for rental housing on classifieds websites – 82% of respondents said so, making this channel a stable and undisputed leader.
Fewer tenants seek help from friends and relatives, as well as use social media, private realtors, and other channels.
Challenges faced by tenants
Tenants usually focus on certain selection criteria. First of all, it is the price (84% of respondents), the convenience of the neighborhood (71%), the number of rooms (68%), accessibility to work and public transportation (67%), nearby infrastructure (62%), etc.
62% of respondents check whether there are any strategic facilities nearby, and more than half of respondents pay attention to the autonomy of the housing, additional power sources and the availability of a bomb shelter – these criteria first entered the top 15 in the choice of real estate only this year.
In addition, tenants face a number of challenges, the biggest of which is high housing prices. This was noted by 89% of respondents (a 6% increase over the year). 75% (4%) of respondents report difficulty in finding a job due to high competition.
Other challenges include refusals to rent to tenants with pets, people with IDP status, people with disabilities, and military personnel.
Refusal to rent to people with small children is the challenge that has increased the most over the year (14% increase).
In addition to the difficulties faced by tenants, they also point out certain factors that they believe landlords pay attention to.
According to property seekers, landlords pay the most attention to the presence of pets (88% of respondents, the same as last year) and small children (87% of respondents, which is 1% more than last year).
Other factors include
- the number of people who will be living in the apartment (83%, down 5% from last year)
- behavior and appearance of housing seekers (82%, down 2% from last year), ability to pay (80%, down 2%),
- marital status (78%, increased by 7%)
- bad habits (77%, down 4%).
Landlords also pay attention to the region where tenants come from (71% of respondents, up 1% from last year), IDP status (61%, up 3% from last year), and the language spoken by the applicants (42%, up 1% from last year).
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What landlords pay attention to
On the other side of the rental process are landlords, who also have their own criteria for selecting potential tenants.
According to a survey conducted in June 2025 by the OLX Real Estate team, 60% of respondents primarily pay attention to the solvency of tenants, almost as many (59%) – to the presence of pets.
In contrast, only 7% and 3% of homeowners are interested in political views and language of communication, respectively.
The rental housing market in Ukraine remains active, and the key selection criteria for tenants are price, location and autonomy of housing. New living conditions caused by the war and massive displacement require adaptation and changes in the needs and requirements of both tenants and landlords.
The study was conducted by Factum Group in September 2025 by order of OLX Real Estate. The data of the research results for Q3 2025 and Q4 2024 are compared.
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