​​Land and Property Issues in Housing and Urban Development in Ukraine​

​This paper is one of nine drafted by national entities in Ukraine as part of a UN-Habitat-commissioned collection entitled Thematic Paper Series Informing Urban Recovery Approaches in Ukraine. The paper examines how Ukraine’s land and property system has evolved from Soviet-era collective/state ownership through post-1991 privatization, decentralization and recent digitization reforms, and how these legacies continue to affect housing and urban development. 

While Ukraine has made significant progress in property registration, land administration and digital systems, important gaps remain: land and property records are not fully integrated, geospatial data are incomplete, ownership structures can be fragmented, and local governments often lack the capacity to manage land strategically. These challenges have become particularly significant during wartime, where unclear land rights and fragmented ownership can complicate reconstruction and compensation. The paper argues that recovery is an opportunity not simply to restore damaged assets, but to modernize the underlying land and property system.