Land and building valuation in Cuba: from land without value to land as financial asset

In Cuba, the government authorities define the priorities for land and property distribution. One might expect that those official development programs would take account of the value of land and buildings. But that is not so, although there is a growing awareness of its importance. When appraisals are made, they are usually for the housing sector and for negotiations with foreign entities. However, in the last decade (1995 – 2005) the issues concerning urban land planning, land allocation, and land and property valuation have grown in complexity. There are many technical conflicts and legal gaps, with many overlapping processes and the approaches are not coherent. This essay provides an insight into the way land and properties are appraised in Cuba, in the expectation that this will be of interest to other experts and city authorities around the world and will contribute to the international debate on this topic.