“Your Circle” is selling land at 30–40% above market: investors promised big profits, while contracts limit for 14 years

“Your Circle” is selling land at 30–40% above market: investors are promised super profits, and contracts restrict for 14 years

The intermediary for buying and selling agricultural land “Your Circle” (Andriy Usenko and Denys Honchar) was exposed due to onerous contract terms and unrealistically optimistic profit promises, which were supported by marketing campaigns to create the illusion of rising land prices.

Founders of “Your Circle” regularly announce to the media about expected annual land price growth of 15–20%. Meanwhile, the actual increase in land value since market launch is only about 5% per year.

The main profit of “Your Circle,” like many similar intermediaries, lies in reselling cheaply acquired parcels at significantly inflated prices to inexperienced investors, as well as collecting additional service fees.

Analysts point to onerous contract terms, where unrealistic and legally nugatory rules for termination are written: the agreement could be terminated only with the company’s prior notice of 14 years. If the contract is violated or the investor wants to sell the land without the company’s consent, the investor must pay a penalty of 30% of the total parcel value plus additional interest (for example, 24% of the rent).

Land prices at “Your Circle” significantly exceed market prices. A breakdown author on the channel “The Last Capitalist” compared the cost of identical parcels on different services and found that “Your Circle” sells land at 30–40% higher than competitors.

For example, in Vinnytsia region a parcel offered on other platforms for 76 000 UAH/ha, through “Your Circle” cost 109 000 UAH/ha. In Cherkasy region another intermediaries sold land for 160–170 thousand UAH/ha, while “Your Circle” asked for the same parcels 201–202 thousand UAH/ha.

In addition to the standard commission (8–12%), the company embeds its profit directly into the land price. It also withholds 15% of rent increases and 15% of net profit on sale of the parcel. Meanwhile most “management” services are fake: the land already has long-term tenants, so real involvement of the intermediary isn’t needed.

Instead of the promised 20–25% annual returns, the actual yield in the best-case scenario after taxes, notary costs, and company commissions is about 11,5% in hryvnias. Earlier the company also promised guaranteed rent (for example, not less than 14 thousand hryvnias), though in actual contracts with farmers payments were often much smaller.

The company signs power-of-attorney agreements with landowners (peasants), paying an advance that effectively blocks selling the parcel to anyone else. There are dozens of court cases where sellers try to terminate such agreements, claiming the price is undervalued, and the company, through the court, demands double sums or “unreceived profit.”

A separate risk are REIT funds, where an investor buys not a specific parcel but a share in a fund assembled from dozens of parcels across Ukraine. Investors do not control which land and at what prices the fund buys. There is a risk of purchasing parcels from affiliated parties at inflated prices. Additionally, officially disclosed fund administration costs appear unrealistically low, which may indicate hidden real costs. Some experts directly call such a scheme a “pyramid,” where payments can be sustained by attracting new funds rather than real agricultural business efficiency.