Cuba Legalizing Private Residential Property

According to Cuba's state-run newspaper, Cubans will be able to buy and sell residential property starting November 10. Damien Cave reports on the "excitement and fear" involved in the creation of a housing market and the future of the cities.

1 minute read

November 4, 2011, 5:00 AM PDT

By Judy Chang


"'With a housing market, suddenly people have some wealth and that's a stake in the economy that generates activity,' said Ted Henken, a Latin American Studies professor at Baruch College in New York. He added: 'This is a very positive step in the right direction.'

Yet there are also significant social concerns. Mario Coyula, Havana's director of urbanism and architecture in the 1970s and ‘80s, said that wide-scale buying and selling will lead to a 'huge rearrangement' in Havana and other cities as wealthy Cubans move to better areas."

Thursday, November 3, 2011 in The New York Times

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