Rome’s Jubilee Year Falls Short of Hopes: A Bust for Landlords, A Blow to Short-Term Rentals

As the Eternal City celebrates the 2025 Jubilee Year, hopes of a tourist windfall are proving premature. Despite grand expectations of a pilgrimage-fuelled surge in visitors and short-term rental profits, the reality on Rome’s cobblestone streets is more muted than miraculous. Halfway through the holy year, landlords and local businesses are voicing disappointment, while residents continue to wrestle with a tight and unaffordable housing market.

While the Jubilee—a once-every-25-years spiritual event hosted by the Catholic Church—has transformed Rome’s urban landscape with stunning renovations and ambitious beautification projects, it has not yet delivered the promised economic bounce for those banking on a boom in Airbnb-style rentals and hospitality income.

The Jubilee Hype and the Local Fear

The word Jubilee may conjure images of celebration and forgiveness, but in Rome, it also evokes rent hikes, inflation, construction delays, and swelling crowds. With over 30 million pilgrims expected to descend on the city, homeowners and investors rushed to convert properties into short-term holiday rentals, aiming to ride a wave of religious tourism and recession recovery.

Rome’s mayor, Roberto Gualtieri, touted the Jubilee as a turning point for the capital, promising not just spiritual renewal but economic revitalisation. However, locals braced for a different kind of impact: renters and young professionals feared being pushed out, unable to compete with skyrocketing prices and speculative landlords eyeing tourist profits.

Pilgrims Missing in Action?

So far, reality has lagged behind projections. Though Rome’s streets, monuments, and public spaces shine after major restorations—such as the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, and Castel Sant’Angelo—the influx of pilgrims has not materialised as hoped.

Early reports from major real estate agencies, including Tecnocasa, show an 8-10% drop in holiday rentals during the first quarter of 2025. The anticipated Jubilee “gold rush” simply hasn’t occurred, with many landlords now scrambling to recoup costs.

One major reason for the underperformance? Pilgrims haven’t chosen short-term rentals.
Instead, many opted for convent accommodations, religious hostels, or budget hotels outside the city, bypassing the pricey Airbnb offerings altogether.

Landlords Rethink Their Bets

According to Raffaele de Paola, a real estate investor affiliated with Tecnocasa, landlords were “overly optimistic” and many are now reassessing their strategies.

“The problem is many hoped to strike gold with short-term rentals,” he said. “But as with all things, success requires commitment, and many underestimated the effort required.”

Some property owners, after investing heavily in upgrades and conversions, are now reversing course—returning their units to long-term residential leases or putting them up for sale.

Rosanna De Bonis, head of SoloAffitti, one of Italy’s major rental firms, has seen first-hand how landlord expectations crumbled.

“The Jubilee sold false hopes,” she explained. “Landlords expected fully booked calendars at premium prices. Instead, many are dealing with cancellations and rate drops.”

De Bonis goes further, suggesting this Jubilee could mark “the beginning of the end” for the Airbnb boom in Rome. The slow returns, she says, may finally force a course correction in a housing market that’s been straining under the weight of tourist demand.

Locals Still Struggling

While landlords recalibrate, Roman residents continue to suffer from limited housing availability and exorbitant rents. Professionals like Giulio, a 32-year-old doctor, found themselves priced out of central neighbourhoods like Prati and Trastevere, especially near St Peter’s.

“Everything had been converted to holiday rentals,” he told Euronews. “The renting situation is truly tragic.”

Rome’s housing crunch has long been a contentious issue, and the Jubilee year was seen as a breaking point. Local advocacy groups warned that the conversion of entire buildings into Airbnbs would displace workers and students while inflating prices with little benefit to locals.

A Recovery in Sight?

Still, not everyone is giving up hope. De Paola notes a resurgence in bookings following the election of Pope Leo XIV in April, which briefly renewed international interest in Rome. “We are on course for a strong end of the year,” he stated, noting longer queues at the Vatican Museums as a good sign.

Rome’s tourism may yet bounce back in the second half of the year, especially as summer brings peak travel season and religious interest surrounding the new pontificate grows. However, the initial lull has cast doubt on whether the Jubilee's economic promise was ever realistic.

Conclusion: A Lesson in Mismatched Expectations

The 2025 Jubilee was meant to be a divine intervention for Rome’s economy—a redemption for landlords, a feast for the tourism sector, and a moment of spiritual renewal for millions. But as hype met harsh reality, it became clear that the city’s holiday rental market had overreached.

For Rome’s long-term residents, the Jubilee’s true legacy may not be economic prosperity, but a renewed call to address housing inequality and over-tourism. And for landlords? A sobering reminder that faith in short-term profits doesn’t always deliver the promised miracle.

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Despite promises of 30 million pilgrims, Rome’s Jubilee Year is failing to deliver the holiday rental boom landlords anticipated, leaving locals with a tight housing market and business owners underwhelmed.

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