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With the influx of immigrants to Lviv, the network became full of information that the cost of rented housing had jumped several times. Vitalii Kovtun, the founder and head of the real estate agency «Duokom«, says that these may be single cases, but it’s not necessary to generalise all the proposals this way. Moreover, if such statements are also spread by government officials, it creates additional fears and adversely affects the real estate market. The realtor reported this during the Lviv Now/ Tvoe Misto discussion on the topic «How Lviv is transformed during the war.»
«The real estate market is working. Stories about the prices of 70 thousand UAH [per monthly rent] are spread unjustifiably, there are some exaggerations. In this situation, as we are today, various cases of scams can be present – people submit announcements, then ask to transfer money to their card, and finally disappear somewhere. These are non-total laws, but, as it’s said, fishing is easy in muddy water. I wouldn’t like the authorities to generalize this and spread additional fears when there are more than enough of them,» – Vitalii Kovtun said.
Read also: Ukrainians sent 700 complaints on overpricing the rent, most of them in the Lviv region
According to him, apartment owners are not deprived of common sense. At the same time, realtors are trying to keep the market so that prices do not reach sky-high levels. Due to the fears and untrue information, a large part of real estate in Lviv has left the market.
«People say, ‘I am scared because I don’t know who’s going to live in my place. This is a short-term lease, especially for a month and a half. These may be members of sabotage groups.’ These fears are putting pressure on owners of properties that used to be rented out, and are now being shut down. We communicate a lot, convince [clients] in carrying out preparatory work, we demand documents from those who settle down. Finally, we support the whole process. On the other hand, we are trying to reduce these fears, so that real estate still appears on the market,» – the head of «Duocom» explains.
There are also apartment owners in Lviv who earlier has put up their objects for sale. So far, due to certain market features, it is impossible to do so, so they are persuaded to create an additional offer and enter the market with rental offers. Vitalii Kovtun says that people are afraid because of hyperbolized statements, and this partially harms the normal functioning of the market.
He assures that in the city, you can still find rental offers worth 7-8 thousand hryvnias, though not many of them, but they are still present. At the same time, for the normalization and security of the process, both homeowners and seekers are encouraged to contact a real estate agency. There are often rental options that haven’t yet been made public.
It will be recalled that Ukrainians have sent about 700 complaints of unjustified overpricing. Most of them were recorded in the Lviv region. Earlier, Mayor Andrii Sadovyi published a list of unscrupulous landlords who have unreasonably raised prices for housing in Lviv since the beginning of the war.
Yulia Osym
Translated by Vitalii Holich
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Lviv Now is an English-language website for Lviv, Ukraine’s «tech-friendly cultural hub.» It is produced by Tvoe Misto («Your City») media-hub, which also hosts regular problem-solving public forums to benefit the city and its people.
