This week, Cuba's National Assembly approved a plan to enact a new law permitting the sale of real estate, which was banned after Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution.

The legislation is expected to go into effect by the end of the year as part of a major overhaul of Cuba's stagnant economy.

Owners will need simple notary approval to buy or sell a home and will pay taxes on the transaction.

"You want to sell your house? You want to trade your house or donate it? The law will give you that right. You don't have to go to the Housing Department and ask permission of anyone," Marino Murillo, the government's point man on economic reforms, told the Assembly.