The property market on the Isla de la Juventud

The Isla de la Juventud is not a province but a special municipality, the second-largest island of the archipelago, south of Artemisa and Mayabeque. Its property market is small and almost entirely local, with prices among the lowest in the country.

Nueva Gerona accounts for most transactions: a town of single-storey houses, many with a porch and a yard, and a few neighbourhoods of flats. La Fe is the second urban centre, and the rest of the municipality is rural, with scattered, simple housing.

Isolation shapes everything. Connections to the main island depend on the ferry from Batabanó and on flights, which makes any building material more expensive and slower to arrive. A renovation that takes weeks in Havana can stretch over months here, so it is worth valuing a home with its upkeep costs in mind.

Cayo Largo del Sur belongs to the municipality, but it works as a tourist enclave and offers no residential market to private buyers. People who buy on the Isla almost always do so to live there.

Neighbourhoods and areas

• Nueva Gerona
• La Fe
• La Demajagua
• Atanagildo Cajigal
• Cocodrilo

What to check before buying here

• check_circleThe state of roofs and structure: repairs here cost more and take longer than on the main island.
• check_circleDamage from past hurricanes, which are frequent in the municipality.
• check_circleWater source and whether there is a cistern.
• check_circleActual availability of transport to the main island if you need to travel often.

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