Although it might be a little farfetched to say we’ll see Starbucks on El Malecon (one of Havana’s hot-spots), anytime soon, it can be said with certainty that Cuba is moving slowly towards a market economy.

President Raul Castro recently announced a new law that would make it legal for Cubans to buy and sell property, which has been illegal for 50 years. Cubans risked making these deals anyway, but always with fear of getting caught.

Ever since the Cuban revolution in 1959 new cars were not seen on the streets of Havana and citizens could only buy and sell vehicles older than 1959, legally that is.

“The state has no business getting involved in a matter between two individuals,” Raul Castro said at the National Assembly last year.

However, although the administration would like to expand the private sector of their economy, not all Cubans have access to the money needed to buy a new car. Only those who can get their hands on foreign currency—whether it be because they are in the upper classes or because they have financially supportive family members outside the country—can even begin to think about getting a permit that would then allow them to buy a car.

Although permits are expensive, and even more so in a country where the average monthly income per person is about 20 American dollars; car prices are also ridiculously high. Because import/export laws are so stringent, demand so high, and supply so low, prices will inevitably rise.

Along with the sale of cars, Castro also announced the allowance of property sales. Prior to this law people had to leave their homes to the government or sell it if they emigrated; they were not allowed to leave it behind to family members.

Clarivel Vigoa, 44, who immigrated to the United States six years ago, owned a house in Havana. When she and her immediate family came to the U.S. she could not leave her house behind for the rest of her family or “sell” it to them, she had to leave it to the government.

“It angered me that my family – and there were some who had nothing – could not have the house that I owned,” Clarivel said.