It is now possible to portray, as Juan Carlos Tabio did on house swaps with his movie “House for swap”, the adventures of buying and selling houses in Cuba. Since the entry into force of Decree -Law 288, the facades of the roughly main avenues are filled with posters of sale , and virtual markets as Revolico are crammed with ads both vendors, as well as people interested in purchasing.
the activity enjoys such vitality that in 2013 more house were sold and bought more than swapped. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) analyzes that statistically the transfer of property by purchase or donation in the previous year increased, while decreased the number of swap agreements. However, the corresponding figures were not mentioned.
Between December 2011 and November 2013 many homes were sold and bought up to five times, but in ensuring legal security, according to statements made to local media by Aniuska Puente, Property, Commercial and Heritage Records Specialist at the MoJ.
The official noted an increase in homeownership records, between January and October 2013 that attested 873, 314 properties, of which 213,346 are state properties and 659,968 are private houses.
The registration requirement for real estate transactions legalized in 2011 is not for just one time, Puentes said, but must be updated in one of the 170 offices of the Land Registry every time that exchange or sale of immovable property is made.
According to official data, Cuba has a housing stock of 3.7 million housing units, of which about 85 percent is under a single ownership.
The home prices are in a broad spectrum ranging between 7000 and 350,000 CUC according to internet ads.
