The purchasing and selling of private property was legalized by President Raul Castro in Cuba last November in a bid to keep the struggling Communist state afloat.
Only citizens and permanent residents are allowed to buy properties in the Communist country but many Cuban exiles in America are entering the property markets through friends and family on the island – bumping up property prices.
Reform: Cubans can now buy and sell real estate for the first time in more than 50 years – but many still won’t be able to afford that option
Now many homes in Havana are being sold at $250 per square meter – 12 times the average monthly wage of $20.
One family, Yoel Cruz and his father are selling their three bedroomed house for $22,000, more than a thousand times their monthly income of $19.
Mr Cruz told The Times: ‘It’s incredible. In Cuba incomes are very low and house prices are very high.
For those of us who don’t speak the metric system, $250 per square meter equals about $25 per square foot.
Photo by mirandalovestravelling.com.