Buy House Cuba

Can Americans buy property in Cuba? The 2026 answer

By Buy House Cuba ·

Vintage cars in front of El Capitolio, Havana

The short answer is no. As of October 2026, a US citizen or resident cannot lawfully buy a house, an apartment, or a piece of land in Cuba. Two separate things stand in the way, one from Washington and one in Havana, and both would have to come down. Neither has, though both moved more in 2026 than in any year since 2016.

This article is the plain-English version of the question we get most. It is not legal advice, and I am not a lawyer; every rule cited is linked so you can check it.

Obstacle one: US law

The Cuban Assets Control Regulations, 31 CFR Part 515, have been in force since 1963. Section 515.201 prohibits, unless the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control authorizes it, “all dealings in… any property” in which Cuba or a Cuban national has an interest. Buying a house from a Cuban seller is such a dealing. So is leasing one, financing one, or holding one.

There are general licenses for some activities with Cuba: family remittances within limits, certain categories of travel, exports of some goods. There is no general license for buying real estate as a private buyer or investor. The narrow exceptions OFAC lists cover companies already authorized to operate in Cuba and the people they employ there.

Who counts as a US person is an important distinction here. It includes US citizens and residents wherever they live, anyone physically in the United States, and US companies. A Cuban-American with US citizenship is a US person for this purpose. Living in Madrid or Montevideo does not change that.

The direction of US policy is the opposite of an opening. Since January 2025 the US has put Cuba back on the State Sponsors of Terrorism list six days after Cuba was initially removed from the list, reissued the 2017 policy memorandum that enforces the ban on tourism, declared a national emergency authorizing tariffs on countries that ship oil to Cuba (Executive Order 14380, January 29, 2026), created a secondary-sanctions regime for non-US companies in Cuba’s energy, defense, metals and mining, financial and security sectors (Executive Order 14404, May 1, 2026), and sanctioned the Cuban president personally. Direct talks were confirmed on March 13, 2026, and Cuba pardoned more than two thousand prisoners, mostly common rather than political, in the weeks after. But as of now, nothing has been signed. Instead, on September 30, 2026, OFAC tightened the embargo regulations again, ending the general licenses for professional meetings and group people-to-people travel and barring even indirect financial dealings with companies on the Cuba Restricted List, and issued new Cuba Sanctions Regulations to carry out Executive Order 14404. Family remittances are still allowed. Nothing in either rule touches real estate, and nothing in either opens a door.

Obstacle two: Cuban law

Cuba legalized private home sales in November 2011, with Decree-Law 288. Since then, Cuban citizens living on the island and foreigners with permanent residency can buy, sell, and even donate homes, register the transfer with the Property Registry, and pay via a bank instrument with a notary. The buyer pays a 4% transfer tax; the seller pays 4% on the proceeds.

Non-resident foreigners cannot buy. Marriage to a Cuban does not change this on its own. A common workaround people use is putting a house in a Cuban relative’s name, which leaves the foreigner with nothing enforceable. If the relationship ends, the house belongs to the relative, and getting a Cuban court to hear the foreigner’s claim would likely not just be tricky but impossible.

Foreign companies can develop real estate through joint ventures approved under the 2014 Foreign Investment Law (Law 118), on usufruct or surface rights. That is a project channel, decided on a case-by-case basis by the Council of Ministers, not a way for an individual to buy a home. The golf-and-marina condo projects announced for foreigners in 2010–2014, with units offered on 99-year leases, never broke ground.

What changed in 2026?

On the Cuban side, three things.

Ley 187, the new Housing Law, approved July 30, 2026, ends confiscation of homes when the owner emigrates, allows two homes per person plus a vacation home, adds a court-supervised “abandonment” procedure for ruined empty homes, and leaves a door open for foreign purchase tied to “significant investment in the national economy” or to medical residency. The full text and the regulations that define those conditions were still unpublished at the end of September. Our full explainer of Ley 187 is here.

A diaspora investment channel. In March 2026, Cuba announced that Cubans living abroad, including Cuban-Americans and their descendants, could invest in and own businesses and property. It was implemented through a new “Investors and Businesspersons” immigration status (Decree 150/2026) available to emigrants who hold a certified business relationship with a Cuban entity, revocable when that relationship ends. US-based investors would still need Treasury licenses, though, so even though Cuba made property purchases more accessible, the United States did not.

New migration laws, effective November 2026, create a “real-estate residency” for foreigners who already own or rent in state-administered residential complexes. It rewards existing ownership; it does not create a way to buy.

None of these lets a US person buy a house today. But all of them are the kind of change that would have to happen first.

What about Cuban-Americans specifically?

This is the most common follow-up, so here it is directly. Cuba’s 2026 diaspora rules are written for Cuban citizens abroad, and many Cuban-Americans still hold Cuban citizenship. On the Cuban side, someone in that position with a certified business relationship on the island can now hold the investor status and, under it, own property while it lasts.

The US side is unchanged. A Cuban-American who is a US citizen or green-card holder is a US person under the embargo regulations, and paying for Cuban property is a prohibited dealing without an OFAC license. The two governments are not coordinating; Cuba opened a door that US law still says its own citizens cannot walk through.

Families who still own a house in Cuba are in a different position: nothing stops them keeping it, and Ley 187 makes keeping it from abroad easier. That is a separate topic, and we cover it on our sister site for owners.

The five signals to watch

If the answer to the headline question ever changes, it will show up in one of these places first:

  1. Publication of Ley 187’s full text and its foreign-buyer regulations. Until the conditions are defined, “foreigners can buy” is a headline, not a rule.
  2. A US–Cuba framework for the pre-1959 property claims. There are 5,913 certified US claims worth $8–10 billion with interest, plus an uncounted number of Cuban-American ones. No serious opening happens without a deal on these. More on the Cuban property claims problem here.
  3. Helms-Burton Title III developments. The Supreme Court’s 2026 rulings in Havana Docks and Exxon v. CIMEX made it easier to sue over confiscated property, which raises, not lowers, the risk of touching it.
  4. An OFAC general license touching real estate. Every opening since 2009 has been published as an amendment to 31 CFR 515 in the Federal Register. That is the document to watch.
  5. The informal exchange rate and tourist arrivals. They are the best proxies for whether Cuba’s economy is stabilizing, and prices in Havana move on expectations before anything else.

What can you do now?

Document any family property history while the people who remember are alive. Learn how title works in Cuba and how the claims problem could affect any specific house. Watch the five signals. And refuse any “pre-sale,” “reservation,” or “option” offered on Cuban property to Americans: paying for one violates the embargo regulations on the US side. It buys nothing enforceable on the Cuban side.

Our free report goes through each of these in detail, with sources, and we email once a quarter when something actually changes.

Sources

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