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Konstantine Panegyres, Lecturer in Classics and Ancient History, The University of Western Australia

The ancient Greeks and Romans grappled with housing crises, too

The ruins of an 'insula' (a kind of apartment building) in the port town of Ostia near Rome. Dennis G. Jarvis/Wikimedia, CC BY-SA

In many developed countries, the price of property has risen so high it’s meant the dream of home ownership has faded for many people. Often, renting isn’t a much better option, with an undersupply of affordable properties.

This is one of the great issues of our time. But is it a specifically modern problem? Like today, people in ancient times dreamed of having property. The purchase of a house was a source of joy.

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