Ukrainian land prices grow 10.4% in 9 months - study

MOSCOW. Nov 1 (Interfax) - Weighted average prices of land in Ukraine have increased 10.4%, reaching UAH 38,500 per hectare, in January-September 2023, Ukrainian media reported citing a study into Ukraine's land market prepared by the Kiev School of Economics with support of USAID Agriculture Resilience Initiative program.

According to the study, 31.1 million hectares of land in Ukraine are private property, therefore a 10.4% increase in prices is equal to a growth of capitalization by UAH 115.1 billion, which is approximately one tenth of the revenues of the budget's general fund in 2023.

"The weighted average price of one hectare of all agricultural lands stood at UAH 38,450 in September 2023. At the same time, the weighted average price of land for commercial agricultural production as the intended purpose was above average and reached UAH 39,000 per hectare. It means that commercial lands are valued a little more than other types of agricultural lands in Ukraine," the study said.

The highest prices of agricultural land plots were in the Ivano-Frankovsk, Lvov, Volyn, Ternopol, Kiev, and Poltava regions, it said.

A total of 21,400 deals involving agriculture land plots with a total area of 43,500 hectares were made in Q3, which is roughly the same as in Q2, when 44,000 hectares of agriculture land plots were sold or purchased under the same number of contracts. The land market was much more active in Q2 and Q3 compared to Q1, when 15,700 deals for 32,000 hectares of land were concluded, the study said.

The land market could grow even more in Q4, as buyers are expected to be more active and the demand for land plots is expected to grow after the harvest and additional resources for land purchases appear, it said.