The new Law 187 "On Housing", published this Wednesday in the Official Gazette and set to take effect on October 21, raises expectations among Cubans on the island and in the diaspora. However, economist Elías Amor warns that the regulation is designed to fail: as long as the State continues to control the real estate market, no legal reform will change the housing disaster that Cuba is experiencing.
Love, who analyzed the law in an interview with Tania Costa, summarizes his verdict bluntly: "This law, with all due respect, is useless, because even though housing prices in Cuba are very low and mainly encourage foreigners to take possession of homes in Cuba, there is a law... that states you cannot own more than two homes."
That limit —two properties plus one additional for vacation or leisure— is, according to the economist, the Achilles' heel of the entire regulation. For an investor seeking profitability on a larger scale, this limit excludes them from the outset. "If you were considering investing in housing, forget about Cuba, because in Cuba you will only have two properties and one more for vacation," says Amor. He adds with a specific example: "A Spaniard, for instance, who wants to buy 20 or 30 houses... that person has no interest in buying anything in Cuba."
It is precisely the large real estate funds and investors capable of purchasing dozens of properties who could mobilize enough capital to revive a sector in ruins. By excluding them, the law closes the door on the only source of private financing capable of making an impact on the housing deficit of over 929,000 homes that Cuba has accumulated.
The deterioration of the housing stock that this investment should address is, in Amor's own words, catastrophic. "Bathtubs are gone, bathrooms are gone. What remains is a hole in the ground for people to relieve themselves," he describes when referring to the condition of many Cuban homes. He warns that without a radical shift in policy, that image will not change: "This disaster, if things do not change, if there is no real push of 180 degrees, will continue."
The numbers support the diagnosis. In Havana, approximately 1,000 buildings collapse each year, 35% of the housing stock in the country is in fair or poor condition, and in 2025 only 2,382 homes were built out of the planned 10,795, which is just 22% of the plan.
The new law, approved by the National Assembly on July 30 and promoted as the most significant housing reform in nearly four decades, introduces new measures such as the elimination of confiscation for emigration, the recognition of inheritance rights, and the establishment of housing cooperatives. However, Amor insists that these advancements are merely cosmetic if the State does not relinquish control to the private sector: "As long as housing is controlled, directed, and regulated by the State and not by the private sector, housing will not be a sufficiently developed sector in the Cuban economy."
The macroeconomic context further exacerbates the situation. The year-on-year inflation in Cuba reached 28.5% in September 2026 according to the National Office of Statistics and Information, and Amor predicts that it will end the year between 35% and 40%, a rate that, in his words, "destroys savings, pensions, and the minimum wage." This hyperinflation renders the subsidies and credits promised by law to young people and vulnerable families unfeasible, given the chronic deficit of the Cuban budget.
"In the United States, in Spain, in Europe, we are alarmed by inflation rates of 4%, while in Cuba, people are paying seven times more for price increases. I don't know how they can survive," concludes the economist.
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