A Cuban resident in the United States shared this week on TikTok the progress of the renovation of her home in Cuba, showcasing a result that she describes as "super modern," inspired by the house she has in the United States.
The video posted by user @_lia_alex on Tuesday has accumulated over 62,500 views, more than 4,000 likes, and nearly 390 comments, featuring a song in the background that captures the tone of the clip: "I am grateful to you, my God, for what you are doing / Step by step, I see everything growing / What I once asked you for, today I see blossoming."
"Our house in Cuba is coming along," wrote the video's creator, tagged with the hashtags #casahabana and #cubanosporelmundo.
The case adds to a trend that became established during 2025 and 2026: Cubans living abroad, mainly in the U.S., are financing the construction or renovation of homes on the island with remittances and their own savings, while documenting the process on social media.
The videos often display radical transformations: false ceilings, recessed LED lights, new flooring, equipped kitchens, and textured walls. In August 2025, a Cuban resident in the U.S. showcased the renovation of her house in Cuba featuring these types of finishes, sparking extensive debate in the comments. In January 2026, a Cuban from Miami revealed the transformation of his home on the island, described as "from construction to luxury."
The costs of these projects are high even for those who earn in dollars. According to data reported in June 2026, a wall can cost 3,500 dollars plus materials, and a slab around 7,000 dollars additional. A Cuban who bought her house for 11,000 dollars had already invested over 60,000 dollars in its renovation at the time of reporting.
This phenomenon occurs in the context of a severe housing crisis in Cuba, with an estimated deficit of over 805,000 homes and a chronic shortage of construction materials. Ninety-two percent of the remittances received by the island come from the United States, and Cubans in Miami send an average of $2,165 a year to their families, according to data from elTOQUE.
In the past month of May, another Cuban resident in the U.S. showcased the progress of a three-story house in Pinar del Río that has been under construction for nine months and is nearly finished. And at the beginning of this month, a Cuban showed how her own project was progressing on the island, at a pace closely followed by her followers.
In addition to economic uncertainty, there is an added layer of legal risk: the Cuban regime is debating a new housing bill that would include regulations regarding property ownership by emigrated Cubans and the possibility for the State to seize homes deemed "abandoned," which poses a specific threat to these investments.
Despite this context, the author of the video concludes her post with a phrase that encapsulates the sentiment of many in this trend: "It wasn't luck; it was God who paved the way."
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