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In November, 2011, the government decreed Cubans could buy and sell homes for the first time since the early days of the revolution, paving the way for an exercise in bare-knuckled capitalism.

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A child stands at the door of a farm with a ‘For Sale’ notice on the outskirts of Havana March 19, 2013. Cubans can now buy and sell homes, instead of merely swapping them.DESMOND BOYLAN/Reuters

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A woman stands at the entrance of her home on sale for $5,000, in Havana’s Vedado area. The city’s real estate market has become an exercise in bare-knuckled capitalism.DESMOND BOYLAN/Reuters

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A man rides on the back of a truck carrying furniture on El Malecon seafront boulevard as a family moves house.DESMOND BOYLAN/Reuters

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A woman takes a picture of a colonial-style house in Havana. The city was once considered an architectural jewel with an eclectic mix of colonial homes and modern Art Deco construction, but much of the city outside the touristy Old Havana district is in a dilapidated state after decades of neglect and corrosion from humidity and salty sea air.DESMOND BOYLAN/Reuters

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Women walk along the entrance of their colonial-style houses on El Malecon boulevard, a prime real estate area in Havana.DESMOND BOYLAN/Reuters

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A man stands on the balcony of his Soviet-era apartment in Havana.DESMOND BOYLAN/Reuters

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Tourists ride in a convertible next to a building undergoing renovation on El Malecon boulevard.DESMOND BOYLAN/Reuters

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Pedestrians pass a house in Havana’s Miramar, a prime real estate area.DESMOND BOYLAN/Reuters

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A woman looks out from the balcony of her apartment in a colonial-style house in Havana.DESMOND BOYLAN/Reuters

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Laundry hangs from the second floor of a colonial-style house in Havana.DESMOND BOYLAN/Reuters

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A woman stands at the entrance of her home, on sale for $5,000 (U.S.), in Havana’s Vedado area.DESMOND BOYLAN/Reuters

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A woman cleans inside her home, on sale for $5,000.DESMOND BOYLAN/Reuters

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Tourists walk beside a building undergoing renovation beside colonial-style houses on Havana’s El Malecon seafront boulevard.DESMOND BOYLAN/Reuters

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A man walks along El Malecon boulevard.DESMOND BOYLAN/Reuters

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A woman stands with her child on the balcony of her apartment in Havana.DESMOND BOYLAN/Reuters

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A car is driven past colonial-style houses on El Malecon boulevard.DESMOND BOYLAN/Reuters

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