Synopsis: Stories and Legends Comedy Tour takes a humorous look at the current housing crisis through ancient Rome. The insulae, the precarious buildings where ordinary Romans lived, are compared to today’s Airbnbs: both situations reflect overcrowding and speculation. Just like today, rents in Rome were sky-high and wealthy landowners profited from these squalid “mini-dwellings.” Just as Airbnb displaces residents, poor Romans were relegated to dangerous and expensive housing while tourists enjoyed the city. In a fun parallel, the housing problem persists, and we might end up renting an Airbnb on Mars!

Welcome to Historias y Leyendas Comedy Tour, where we tell you about the past in the most entertaining way possible.And today we have a chapter of our favorite series: «Business Stories and Legends»Today's topic is none other than Airbnb, the Roman insulae, and how, apparently, the Romans and we share more than we think when it comes to real estate crisis.

Introduction: The Roman Insulae, the Airbnb of the Empire

When you think of Rome, you probably think of gladiators, emperors eating grapes and impressive temples. But let's be honest, what they never tell you is how the common people lived. Spoiler alert: they didn't live well at all.

In imperial Rome, most citizens lived in the famous insulae, which were something like modern-day apartment blocks. Of course, with a slight Roman twist: seven floors of pure precariousness. The insulae were like the ancient version of rental buildings, but with one lovely detail: they were made of cheap wood and second-hand brick. Basically, a recipe for them to collapse or burn down as easily as we cancel an Airbnb reservation when we find something better.

And that's the trick: the insulae were the Airbnb of ancient Rome, with the same overcrowding and dubious conditions as some tourist rental apartments today. Only instead of tourists with wheeled suitcases, you had entire families sharing a space that could be considered a “slum apartment.”

Real estate inflation in ancient Rome: Same thing, but with togas
If you thought that real estate inflation was a modern invention, think again. In the Rome of the Caesars, the phenomenon of sky-high rents already existed. And if you wanted to live near the centre, on the Palatine Hill, forget it! It was like wanting to rent a loft in the heart of Barcelona today: either you sold a kidney or you shared a flat with eight people.

And who profited from this? Well, the rich landowners, the speculators of that time. They bought several insulae, rented them out for exorbitant prices and rubbed their hands together while their tenants prayed to Jupiter that the house would not collapse at any moment. What's worse, the higher up you lived on the insula, the cheaper the rent was... but also the more dangerous. A fire on the ground floor and... goodbye Roman attic! In short, a bargain for the most daring.

Airbnb and the insulae: Two sides of the same coin (gold, of course)
Fast forward a couple of millennia and we come to our beloved Airbnb. Everyone has heard about how this platform has revolutionised holiday rentals, but it has also contributed to making access to housing a headache. Owners around the world prefer to rent out their apartments to temporary tourists, which reduces the supply for local residents.

Tourists are now snapping up the best apartments, while locals are forced to rent overpriced flats, or worse, move in with their mother-in-law! Sound familiar? In Rome, tourists may not have arrived on low-cost planes, but they did come to enjoy the circuses and shows, while poor ordinary Romans were trapped on a dangerous island.

Imagine if Nero had had access to something like Airbnb. He would have rented out every corner of Rome to tourists who came to see his games at the Colosseum. Roman citizens would have ended up living outside the walls, and instead of worrying about fires, they would have had to fight for a little space on the outskirts. History, dear reader, doesn't change that much!

The current real estate crisis: Rome wasn’t built in a day, but the bubble… seems to be!
Spain, like many other parts of the world, is facing a monumental housing crisis. Platforms like Airbnb have transformed residential areas into hot spots for tourism, where rents have risen like the price of bread in wartime. If you thought buying a house was complicated before, today it is practically a pipe dream.

And no, we're not just talking about young Spaniards who can't afford to move out, we're talking about whole families who have to compete with tourists for a place to live! Roman history repeats itself, and it seems we haven't learned anything since the days of the insulae.

Conclusion: History repeats itself… also on Mars?
So here we are, 2000 years later, still struggling to keep a roof over our heads without having to sell an organ or share a room with strangers. From Roman insulae to Airbnb apartments, speculation and lack of regulation have been the main culprits of our housing crises. The only difference is that today we do it with more technology and fewer fires (although you never know).

The lesson is clear: if we don’t solve the housing crisis now, our descendants will be dealing with these same problems in the future… but on Mars, probably with some Airbnb rentals in space. Because if history teaches us anything, it’s that housing problems, whether in imperial Rome or modern Barcelona, never go away, they just transform.

Closing phrase:
«Remember, next time you rent an Airbnb, you may be repeating the same story that the Romans lived through 2,000 years ago. Only this time, instead of fires on the insulae, it will probably be the wifi whatever falls… but chaos is guaranteed.»