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Two advertisements posted in the Facebook group "Buy - Sell Houses and Apartments in Havana" illustrate the highest end of the rental market in the Cuban capital: an apartment in Vedado is listed for 1,800 dollars per month and a mansion in Miramar reaches 3,000 euros per month, both intended exclusively for long stays.
The first property is an independent apartment located on the ninth floor of the Hermanas Giralt Building, on 23rd Street between D and E.
The ad describes it this way: "With 3 air-conditioned bedrooms, each with its own bathroom. Living room, dining room, equipped kitchen, terrace with a great view of the city, and service room. It has WiFi, landline phone, street gas, and space for car parking."
The second property is a house of 900 square meters in the area of 1st and 2nd in Miramar, a historically diplomatic area of Havana.
The advertisement presents it as "linear luxury rental," featuring four air-conditioned bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms, a living room, a dining room, a equipped kitchen, a garden, a backyard with a covered terrace, a garage, and a video surveillance system.
What sets this property in Miramar apart in the context of the Cuban crisis is its backup infrastructure: it has a new 12,000 kW generator and a 13,000-liter cistern, plus an additional reserve of 1,500 liters on the roof.
The house was completely restored in 2018 and, according to the advertisement, is kept in constant care.
These offers are not isolated cases.
In March 2025, an apartment in Vedado near Línea and G sparked controversy when it was listed for 2,200 euros per month.
In April 2026, listings for houses in Miramar and Vedado were reaching $2,900 and $3,000 per month.
The high-end rental market in Havana has been operating in foreign currency for years, targeting foreigners, diplomats, and Cubans from the diaspora.
The paradox is brutal.
The official average monthly salary in Cuba was 6,930 Cuban pesos in 2025, according to the National Office of Statistics and Information.
At the current informal exchange rate—between 550 and 600 pesos per dollar—that salary amounts to just 12 or 13 dollars a month.
Independent economists estimate that covering basic needs requires at least 96,060 Cuban pesos per month, which is about 14 times the average salary. Renting an apartment in Vedado for 1,800 dollars would equate to more than 138 average Cuban monthly salaries.
The Cuban Vice President Salvador Valdés Mesa himself acknowledged it directly: "With a salary of 6,000 pesos, one cannot live."
In March 2026, a young woman revealed that she was paying 140 dollars a month for an apartment in Havana, which represents the lower end of the dollarized market.
Between that apartment and the 3,000 euros in Miramar lies a chasm that reflects the enclave economy into which the Havana real estate market has become: completely disconnected from the salary realities of the vast majority of Cubans.
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