On June 30, the Center for Food and Land Use Research at KSE Institute (KSE Agrocenter) presented a special analytical review marking the fifth anniversary of the opening of Ukraine’s agricultural land market. The presentation took place during an online discussion with agricultural producers, representatives of hromadas, government officials, international organizations, and research centers.

Over five years, Ukraine’s agricultural land market has recorded 512,800 land sale transactions covering 1.154 million hectares, with a total value of UAH 51.4 billion. According to the study, by 2026 the market had recovered from the shock of 2022, while the opening of access for legal entities did not trigger an unusual surge in demand.

Over this period, the market went through its launch, the shock of the full-scale war, and a gradual recovery. After opening in 2021, activity grew quickly — by Q4 2021, the area of land sold had reached almost 68,000 hectares. Following the start of the full-scale invasion, the market nearly came to a halt, with activity bottoming out in Q2 2022 at around 3,500 hectares. Activity began to recover in the second half of 2022, while the opening of access for legal entities in 2024 did not trigger a sharp increase in demand: after a peak in Q4 2025 — almost 35,000 transactions covering around 70,000 hectares — indicators in early 2026 returned to a level close to that of 2024.

Land prices increased over this period. The weighted average nominal price rose from around UAH 30,000/ha at the beginning of the market’s operation to UAH 65,800/ha in mid-2026. Adjusted for inflation, the price increased by approximately 25%, reaching UAH 37,400/ha in 2021 prices. This corresponds to an average real increase of 4.6% per year.

The average price over the entire period of the market’s operation was UAH 66,400/ha, while in 2026 it reached UAH 87,900/ha. The average size of a land plot in a single transaction was 2.32 hectares.

The regional structure of the market remains uneven. The largest areas of land traded were recorded in Poltava Oblast (107,600 hectares), Dnipropetrovsk Oblast (94,800 hectares), and Kharkiv Oblast (89,400 hectares). Together, these three oblasts account for almost one-third of all agricultural land sold.

The highest average prices were recorded in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast (UAH 139,000/ha), Lviv Oblast (UAH 123,400/ha), and Kyiv Oblast (UAH 107,100/ha). The lowest prices were recorded in Kherson Oblast (UAH 30,500/ha), and Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts (UAH 37,000/ha each).

Market turnover is gradually concentrating around land designated for commercial agricultural production. This category accounts for 57.2% of all transactions but 73.3% of the area sold. In 2026, its share increased to 60.2% of transactions and 77.1% of the area sold.

A separate section of the study focuses on the lease of state and municipal agricultural land through Prozorro.Sales electronic auctions. Through these auctions, 237,300 hectares of agricultural land have already been leased, 21,100 successful auctions have been held.

The average rental price based on successful auctions is UAH 9,100/ha, while the final rental rate is almost four times than the starting rental price.

The average winning rental price for state and municipal land increased from UAH 6,500–7,000/ha at the end of 2022 to UAH 12,300/ha in May 2026. In U.S. dollar terms, it mostly remained within the range of USD 200–270/ha and stood at around USD 274/ha at the end of the period analyzed.

State and municipal land is leased at the highest prices in Poltava Oblast (UAH 15,800/ha), Vinnytsia Oblast (UAH 15,400/ha), Ternopil Oblast (UAH 13,800/ha), Kirovohrad Oblast (UAH 13,000/ha), and Kyiv Oblast (UAH 12,200/ha). The lowest rates were recorded in Zakarpattia Oblast (UAH 4,100/ha), Kherson Oblast (UAH 4,300/ha), and Donetsk Oblast (UAH 4,500/ha).

Rental rates are also influenced by the term of the agreement and the size of the land plot. Short-term agreements of up to six years generate an average of UAH 4,700/ha, seven-year agreements generate UAH 10,100/ha, and fourteen-year agreements generate UAH 11,000/ha.

The study also shows that the effectiveness of lease auctions depends not only on the availability of land plots, but also on the quality of local land governance, including the capacity of hromadas to prepare documentation and conduct auctions effectively.