May 07, 2025
Despite all the difficulties currently facing the Ukrainian real estate market, its collapse would have catastrophic consequences for the country’s economy. Therefore, developers need to take a long-term view and take their role seriously. This opinion was expressed by RIEL CEO Rostyslav Melnyk in an interview with Forbes.
“The real estate market coming to a standstill will have major consequences and problems for the economy. 75-80% of Ukrainian materials are used in construction, and one builder provides jobs for 12 people in other industries. In addition, there are currently over 4,600,000 internally displaced persons in Ukraine. Of these, more than 200,000 are in the Lviv region and more than 420,000 are in Kyiv. For many of them, housing is a priority,” he commented on.
Despite the challenges of the war, RIEL has completed projects started before 2022 in Kyiv and maintained its leadership in the Lviv market. In 2024 alone, the company completed residential complexes with a total area of 133,756 square metres, including 1,989 apartments, of which 1,454 are in Lviv and 535 in Kyiv. In the first quarter of 2025, more than 1,000 apartments were completed.
“We believe in the long-term perspective and take our role in the market seriously,” said Rostyslav Melnyk.
As Rostyslav Melnyk noted in an interview, housing sales today have fallen tens of times compared to the pre-war period, and the real estate market is experiencing a “protracted crisis.” However, he believes that we should not expect the market to return to its previous state after the end of the war, as new approaches will be needed:
“While in 2023 we still saw a cautious recovery in demand, 2024 was a year of sharp decline. Housing sales fell tenfold compared to pre-war levels. About 50-70% of all transactions on the market are now taking place thanks to the state programme eOselia,” explained the CEO of RIEL. “The market in the format in which it existed in 2021 will no longer exist. Even if sales volumes on the market grow thanks to leasing and mortgage programmes, this will require the work of structured companies and completely different approaches to project implementation.”
In order to significantly lower the barrier to entry for buyers, RIEL plans to negotiate with leading international institutional funds that are actively working or planning to work in Ukraine:
“While the war continues, these organisations are very cautious about financing housing construction. They want to see long-term stability. We are preparing structurally, legally and financially to be the first to receive these funds when the market opens.”
According to Rostyslav Melnyk, the needs of modern buyers are also changing significantly, influencing their choice of housing. This requires a transformation from developers:
“Buyers want a safe, convenient and well-organised environment that includes infrastructure such as kindergartens, schools, sports halls and green areas. It is important that the space fosters connections between people and promotes community building. We saw this need and transformed our approach to development. Today, we strive to create comprehensive, well-thought-out, infrastructure-rich properties with a focus on complete family well-being.”
As Rostyslav Melnyk noted in an interview, the high level of comfort in RIEL residential spaces is achieved with new formats of space within the comfort class – Riel Family Style. Its mandatory elements are internal spaces, water features, easy navigation, high-quality zoning, and nearby infrastructure.
“We turned to European practices of healthy urbanism, in particular to the principles of so-called Happy Planning, which describes seven golden rules of happy urban planning: access to green areas, water, social activity, opportunities for communication, physical activity, etc. People who have visited Europe are already familiar with such formats, and we are seeing growing interest in them in Ukraine as well.”
The full text of the interview for Forbes is available at link.
