The First Mortgage Forum in Kyiv: Where to Find Solutions for Affordable Housing in Ukraine

The First Affordable Mortgage Forum took place — a professional forum dedicated to discussing the development of the mortgage market, housing policy, and affordable housing in Ukraine. The event brought together representatives from government agencies, the banking sector, real estate development companies, international financial institutions, and industry associations.

Ultimately, this forum served as a platform for a comprehensive discussion on how to provide Ukrainians with housing in quantities that meet their actual needs. This issue is currently of great concern to many Ukrainians and is one of the country’s key challenges.

The speakers outlined the scale of the problem: the housing shortage in Ukraine could amount to approximately 600 million square meters, which is equivalent to tens of trillions of hryvnias. 

In this context, mortgages are viewed not merely as a financial instrument, but as one of the factors contributing to Ukraine’s economic stability and recovery. Mortgages directly influence people’s decisions to remain in the country or return from abroad.

One of the central themes of the forum was the panel discussion titled “Mortgages in Ukraine: An Economic or Social Tool?” Participants included Kyrylo Budanov, Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine; Vitaliy Petruk, Deputy Minister of Economy, Environment, and Agriculture; and Danylo Getmantsev, Chair of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance.

Kirill Budanov emphasized that while the results of government programs so far are encouraging, they are only the first step toward solving the problem:

“People have been able to receive just over 24,000 apartments under the ‘eOselya’ program. And that’s a big plus, because before that, the number was zero. But at the same time, this does not meet all the needs of the Ukrainian population. There are categories of internally displaced persons. There are millions of them.”

Despite the existence of government programs, forum participants agreed that the mortgage market in Ukraine is not scaling up to meet actual demand. Today, mortgages are not fully fulfilling either their economic or social functions. The main problem is that the volume of financing is limited, while the risks are high.

This is also confirmed by the structure of the market itself: the share of mortgages in Ukraine’s GDP remains critically low compared to other countries:

“In developed countries, the ratio of mortgage loans to GDP is around 40–50%, and in some developed countries it can reach 100%. In our country, it is only 0.4%,” added Yevhen Metzger, Chairman of the Board of Ukrfinzhytlo.

This means that Europeans are taking out so many mortgages that the total amount is almost equal to the annual GDP of the country where they live.

Forum participants devoted particular attention to discussing the role the government should play in the development of the mortgage market. Currently, it serves as a key driver, which is beneficial in the early stages; however, in the long term, the government should transition to the role of a systemic architect. 

“The government must stop acting as a donor or driver and instead take on the role of architect in building the system. We need to create a system where the products developed by banks are clear to them in terms of risks and long-term lending, in terms of the rules of the game over the long term, and also in terms of the borrower and their income. Then it will work,” explained Vitaliy Petruk, Deputy Minister of Economy, Environment, and Agriculture.

A separate session of the forum was devoted to the issue of development financing and the role of banks in this process. One of the forum’s key discussions was the panel “Are banks ready to lend to developers?”, which featured representatives from the banking sector, the insurance market, and development companies, including Yevhen Favorov, Chairman of the Ukrainian Association of Developers.

In his speech, Yevhen Favorov emphasized that Ukrainian banks remain unwilling to fully lend to developers, while developers are unwilling to take on unfavorable obligations under current conditions. At the same time, this does not mean that the market does not need this instrument—quite the contrary. However, it must emerge as a real and effective option that operates under clear rules.

“Just as a year ago banks were unwilling to lend and developers were unwilling to take out these loans, the situation has not fundamentally changed today. But we want developers to have an optional project financing tool—one that is clear, practical, and can actually be applied at any stage of the project,” noted Yevgeny Favorov.

He specifically highlighted a key obstacle that is currently holding back both banks and developers: the instability of permitting and urban planning documentation. According to him, the problem is not limited to building permits alone. The entire chain of documents underpinning the project’s implementation could be at risk.

“They could revoke the urban planning documentation, they could revoke the building permit, and the right to lease the land plot could be terminated. And that’s a major problem, both for the developer and for the banks,” he added.

The forum demonstrated that despite the variety of topics discussed—mortgages, real estate development, investments, or government policy—the market agrees on one thing: Ukraine needs not a collection of individual solutions, but a comprehensive system. This refers to a model in which: banks are willing to lend, developers have access to financing, the government regulates these processes transparently and openly, and citizens gain real access to housing.