Mortgage for the military in Ukraine

Given the real estate prices in Ukraine, a mortgage remains the only way for many people to buy a home. Thanks to a special state mortgage program, certain categories of Ukrainians can buy an apartment or a private house on preferential terms. This includes military personnel. Let's take a closer look at what a mortgage for the military is, what requirements the borrower must meet, what conditions the program offers, how to apply, and other important nuances.

eOselya for the military: how this mortgage program works

eOselya is an affordable housing lending program initiated by the President of Ukraine. It is available to several privileged categories of the population, including combatants, war veterans, people with war-related disabilities and their families.

Mortgages on the most favorable terms are issued at 3% (6%) per annum and are available to military personnel:

• Armed Forces under contract;

• Security Service of Ukraine;

• Foreign Intelligence Service of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine;

• National Guard;

• State Border Guard Service;

• Department of State Protection;

• State Special Communications Service;

• State Specialized Transport Service.

The program is also available to military prosecutors of the Prosecutor General's Office, employees of the State Emergency Service, employees of the Court Security Service, senior officers of the Special Operations Department of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, detectives and senior detectives of the NAB, rank-and-file and senior officers of the Bureau of Economic Security, police officers and their families.

Mortgage loans at 7% (10%) per annum are available to:

• war veterans and their families

• participants of military operations;

• persons with disabilities caused by war;

• Families of deceased war veterans as defined in Article 10 of the Law of Ukraine "On the Status of War Veterans, Guarantees of Their Social Protection";

• families of fallen (deceased) Defenders of Ukraine.

eOselya for Military allows you to get a loan to buy an apartment, property rights to housing, a private house, townhouse or duplex. The program is based on the fact that banks issue mortgages to military personnel according to certain selection criteria in accordance with a decree of the Ministry of Economy, and the state compensates banks for the reduced interest rate.

Mortgage terms for servicemen under the eOselya program

The main terms of the mortgage for the military under the eOselya program are as follows:

• mortgage loan term - up to 20 years;

• down payment - from 20% (10% for borrowers aged 18 to 25);

• interest rate - 3% or 7% in the first 10 years, 6% or 10% from the 11th year, respectively.

As of March 2025, ten Ukrainian banks can apply for a mortgage loan: "PrivatBank, Oschadbank, Ukrgasbank, MTB Bank, Bank Credit Dnipro, SkyBank, Sense Bank, Globus Bank, Tascombank, and Bisbank. The list of partner banks may be expanded in the future.

Thanks to the banks' cooperation with local administrations, military borrowers can count on substantial interest rate compensation. For example, PrivatBank has signed an agreement with the administrations of Lviv region, Kryvyi Rih, and Odesa. These administrations cover part or all of the interest rate on loans for military personnel registered in the specified region or city.

Oshchadbank and Ukrgasbank have also signed agreements for partial compensation of interest on mortgage loans: these banks cooperate with the administrations of Lviv, Odesa, Zakarpattia, and Chernivtsi regions. The banks provide preferential mortgage lending terms to various categories of military personnel and their families, depending on the specific terms of the agreement.

Partner banks offer a choice of two loan repayment schedules: annuity and classic. The former involves repaying the debt in equal amounts every month. According to this schedule, the borrower first pays off the interest on the loan, and then pays off the loan principal. The classic scheme assumes that the amount of the monthly payment will gradually decrease. The monthly payment includes the principal payment (does not change) and interest on the outstanding balance (decreases monthly).

Requirements for military personnel when applying for a mortgage areHousing

Only those who meet certain requirements can apply for a mortgage for military personnel. Here are the conditions for participation in the eOselya program:

• Citizenship of Ukraine;

• age - over 18 years as of the date of loan disbursement and up to 70 years as of the date of repayment;

• solvency;

• no real estate is owned or its area does not exceed 52.5 m² per person + 21 m² for each additional family member (objects located in the area of active hostilities or in the territory under temporary occupation, as well as destroyed and damaged housing are not taken into account);

• no real estate alienation has been carried out in the last 12 months or the area of such alienated real estate together with the area of the existing housing does not exceed 52.5 m² per person + 21 m² for each additional family member;

• the borrower is not included in the sanctions lists.

If a military person is dismissed or changes his or her job, the loan terms change. If the borrower took out a mortgage on preferential terms, then when he or she changes jobs, he or she loses the right to compensation for part of the interest rate, so he or she continues to repay the loan with the base interest rate under the program of 7% (from the 11th year - 10%).

Housing requirements: what kind of real estate can a serviceman purchase under the eOselya program

Under the terms of the state mortgage program eOselya, it is not possible to purchase any housing on the real estate market. The property must meet certain requirements:

• type of real estate - apartment, property rights to an apartment in an apartment building, private house, duplex, townhouse;

• area - for apartments no more than 52.5 m² per person + 21 m² for each additional family member, for private houses no more than 62.5 m² per person + 21 m² for each additional family member;

• location - on the territory of Ukraine, except for the temporarily occupied territories and areas where active hostilities are taking place;

• age of the property - for contract servicemen, law enforcement officers and veterans, a private house or an apartment in a house under construction or not older than 10 years in Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson regions, in other regions and for other categories of borrowers - not older than 3 years;

• insurance is mandatory for housing put into operation.

It is also important to note that residential real estate that is an architectural monument cannot be mortgaged. When choosing an object for purchase through a preferential mortgage, it is important to take into account its cost, since not all housing is affordable under the terms of the program. The cost of an apartment or house should not exceed the average cost of housing in the regions of Ukraine, as determined by the Ministry of Reconstruction, multiplied by the relevant coefficients:

• 2 - for Kyiv, Dnipro, Lviv, Odesa, Kharkiv and regional centers, settlements located up to 15 km from regional centers and Kyiv, settlements with a population of more than 300,000 people;

• 1.75 - for settlements with a population of up to 300,000 people.

If the cost per square meter of the found apartment exceeds the threshold, the borrower can pay the difference as a down payment. The first installment can also be paid in full or in part with the help of the eVodnovlenie certificate.

How to apply for a mortgage and what documents are required

To apply, military personnel do not need to collect any paper documents. The main thing is to have Diia installed on your phone and to have all the main documents displayed in it. The bank will provide the list of original documents required for the loan after the candidate has been preliminarily approved for the application in Diia.

Here are the step-by-step instructions on how a military person can apply for a mortgage with eOselya:

1. Log in to the Diia app, go to the Services section and select eOselya.

2. Provide information about yourself and your family members, information about the real estate you own, income information, the cost of the future home, and where it is located. Submit the application.

3. Receive offers from banks that will be sent to the Diia app. Notifications with preliminary offers of affordable mortgage lending from banks are received within 24 hours.

4. Choose a suitable offer from the bank, as the conditions in different banks may differ in terms of the size of the down payment or the loan repayment scheme.

5. Provide the bank with a package of documents of the borrower and his family members. Undergo data and document verification.

6. Find a home that meets the terms of the mortgage program. Provide the bank with the necessary documents regarding the mortgaged property.

7. Sign a mortgage agreement with the bank and a purchase and sale agreement for the selected real estate.

When applying for a mortgage, you should be prepared to pay additional mandatory fees. These include the bank's commission for granting a loan, the mandatory state pension insurance fee, real estate insurance, appraiser and notary services.

Contact Mayak real estate agency to understand all the nuances and pitfalls of the eOselya mortgage for servicemen and find a property in Kyiv or Kyiv region that exactly matches the terms of the program.