A flat to rent out in Ukraine: rental yield, tax and risks

01What it is

You buy a flat and let it. The income is the rent less tax and costs: empty months between tenants, the letting agent's fee, repairs. The board includes both net rent and an assumed change in the flat’s dollar price. Price growth increases the value of the asset; it is not cash rent you can spend.

The figures on this page come from the quarterly housing market report of LUN, a Ukrainian property platform: median flat prices in dollars and median rents in hryvnias from listings. The example is a one-room flat in Kyiv: for it, the report gives the listing price, the price flats actually sell for, and an estimate of the rent on flats that have been let.

02What it pays now

The gross yield is a year's rent divided by the price of the flat. By LUN's median estimate, a one-room flat in Kyiv lets for UAH 15,500 a month, while listings ask UAH 17,000. Listed for sale, such a flat costs $67,000, and it sells for $57,000 (Source: ЛУН, Oct 22, 2026). The board works out both ends with the rent on flats that have been let, UAH 15,500, not the rent listings ask. At the official rate of UAH 45.05 to the dollar, that gives a gross yield of 6.2–7.2% a year: the low end with the listing price, the high end with the selling price.

LUN also publishes its own measure: how many years of rent pay for the flat at listing prices. For Kyiv it is 14.8 years, that is 6.8% a year before costs.

In other cities the gross yield varies a lot, within 6.2–14.1%.

The board adds annual USD price appreciation of 1% (Source: KrokFin, Oct 26, 2026). This scenario repeats the latest year-on-year change in Kyiv one-room asking prices reported by LUN, Q3 2026, page 3. Applying it every year is our assumption, not LUN’s forecast or a long-run average. Asking-price medians do not track the same flat over time; the same report records a fall over the latest six months. Actual prices can fall as well as rise.

03After tax and inflation

Tax. If the tenant is a private individual who is not a sole proprietor or otherwise self-employed, an individual landlord in Ukraine pays personal income tax of 5% and a military levy of 5% on the rent, 10% in all (Source: Верховна Рада України, Oct 12, 2026). Such rent has been taxed at this personal income tax rate since 23 October 2026. The tax is charged on the whole rent: repairs, the agent's fee and empty months are not deducted. You pay it yourself after the end of the year and file an annual return. If the tenant is a company, a sole proprietor or another self-employed person, the tenant withholds the tax as a tax agent at the higher, general personal income tax rate, and the board's figures do not apply to such a let.

Through a sole proprietorship. Some landlords let housing as a group 3 sole proprietor (FOP): a single tax of 5% and a military levy of 1% on income (Source: Верховна Рада України, Sep 17, 2026), plus the social contribution of 22% of the minimum wage every month, at least UAH 22,828.08 a year (Source: Верховна Рада України, Jan 1, 2026). The group's yearly income is capped, in minimum wages: 1,167. The sole proprietor's rates are lower than the individual's 10%, but the social contribution is due even when the income is small. So for one flat let at the Kyiv rent, UAH 15,500 a month, a sole proprietorship costs more than the individual's tax. It comes out cheaper only at a much higher rent, or if you already are a sole proprietor and pay the contribution anyway. But we have not checked whether the tax service accepts letting your own flat through a sole proprietorship: ask an accountant.

Property tax. For this tax, the flat's area is reduced by 60 square metres, and the rate on each metre above that is set by the local council, at most 1.5% of the minimum wage a year (Source: Верховна Рада України, Sep 17, 2026). A typical one-room flat pays none.

What is left. The board works out the net yield like this: the rent for the months the flat is let, less the tax, less the agent's fee, less the upkeep of the flat. These costs are our assumptions, not data: we found no public statistics on them.

• empty months between tenants, a year: 1;
• the agent's fee, in months of rent a year: 0.5;
• repairs and upkeep, as a share of the flat's price a year: 1% (Source: KrokFin, Oct 24, 2026).

So of the gross 6.2–7.2% in Kyiv, 3.8–4.7% a year is left, in dollars. Every assumption matters: if repairs cost more or the flat stands empty longer, less is left. Flats in Kyiv let fast: the median time to let, in days, is 5.

Adding the assumed price growth gives a total return after rental tax and costs of 4.8–5.7% a year. The board’s gross column includes rent plus price growth; the after-tax and real columns include both too. Appreciation is not taxed as rent: it remains unrealised while the flat is held. These figures exclude purchase and sale costs and any tax due on a sale; the sale rules are described below. The displayed range reflects the two purchase-price estimates, not the full uncertainty in future prices.

Inflation and the exchange rate. The board combines the net rental yield with the annual USD price-growth assumption before adjusting for inflation. Then, after US inflation of 3.7%, the flat gives +1.1–1.9% a year in dollars. For the hryvnia view, the board assumes that the hryvnia falls each year by its historical average, 6.0%, and that the rent in hryvnias rises with the dollar. Then it is +1.0–1.8% a year in real hryvnia terms. But rent is paid in hryvnias, and it need not follow the exchange rate: over the last six months, according to LUN, Kyiv rents in hryvnias fell. If the rate does not change and the rent in hryvnias stays where it is, with Ukrainian inflation of 10.0% the result is −4.7% … −3.9% a year in real hryvnia terms. The devaluation window and method are in the board's method note.

04Who guarantees it

There is no guarantee. A flat is not a deposit, and nobody makes good its value if prices fall.

During the war, a flat can be damaged or destroyed by shelling. Then you lose both the rent and part or all of the flat's value.

05How fast you can get out

A flat in Ukraine is sold through a notarised deal, and that takes weeks or months: you need to find a buyer, agree on a price and prepare the documents. The selling price may turn out lower than the listing price and lower than what you paid.

The sale is taxed too. The first sale in a year of a home you have owned for more than 3 years is not taxed: 0%. A second such sale in a year, or the sale of a home owned for 3 years or less, is taxed: personal income tax of 5% and a military levy of 5% (Source: Верховна Рада України, Oct 12, 2026). Further sales in the same year are taxed at a higher rate, but only on the gain shown by the purchase documents, not on the whole price.

06Minimum amount

The board takes as the minimum the median price at which one-room flats in Kyiv sell: $57,000 (Source: ЛУН, Oct 22, 2026). Flats in smaller cities are cheaper, and buying part of a flat to let is usually not possible.

On top of the price come the costs of registering the purchase, repairs and furniture. Part of the price can be borrowed as a mortgage, but then the interest takes part of the rent: how the payment works is explained in the article "Mortgages and Ukraine's yeOselya Programme: Terms and How the Payment Works".

07Main risk

The main risk during the war is damage to the flat or its destruction by shelling. The LUN report names regular shelling and the threat of blackouts among the things that shape the market.

• Prices. Over the last six months, according to LUN, listing prices of flats in Kyiv have fallen. Selling for less than you paid can wipe out years of rent.
• A slow sale. You cannot get out fast, and an urgent sale usually means a lower price.
• One flat. All the money is in one property, in one city, on one street.
• Tenants. Empty months, unpaid rent, damaged property: each takes the income below the estimate.
• The hryvnia. Rent is paid in hryvnias. If the hryvnia falls and the rent does not rise, the income in dollars falls.

08How to buy from Ukraine

1. Work out what is left after tax, empty months, the agent and repairs for a particular flat and a particular rent, not for the median.
2. Have a notary check the documents for the flat and the seller: the title, any encumbrances, who else has a right to live there.
3. Buy the flat through a notarised deal and register your title.
4. Sign a written lease with the tenant and pay the tax on the rent.

How to count passive income with its payouts, costs and risks is explained in the article "Passive Income: How to Count Payouts, Costs and Risks".

09Work it out further

• Work out what the rent leaves after costs in the passive income calculator.
• If you buy with a mortgage, work out the payment in the loan and mortgage calculator.
• Compare renting out with Ukrainian government bonds on the "OVDP" page, and with every option on the "Where to invest" board.