The premise of the metaverse allows for basically anything. The proposal of a virtual life has caught the attention of many companies, each with its own vision in this regard, and has also opened the door to some businesses that are —to say the least— hilarious. Among many, one that seems to be making the most of its time is the real estate market.
According to CNBC, during 2021 the sale of real estate in the metaverse reached 500 million dollars. The figure comes from a report prepared by MetaMetric Solutions, based on the four most important virtual platforms today: The Sandbox, Decentraland, Cryptovoxels and Somnium Space.
However, the prospects for 2022 remain more than encouraging for the real estate market in the metaverse. The same report indicates that only in January sales reached 85 million dollars, and that if the trend continues it could reach one billion throughout the year; that is, double what was achieved in the past calendar.
But what is really striking is that the sale of virtual real estate does not happen only for the interest of individuals. On the contrary, more and more companies are being created to tackle large real estate projects in the metaverse.
One of the most notorious cases mentioned by CNBC is that of the Republic Realm; Said firm paid more than 4 million dollars to buy a piece of land in The Sandbox and turn it into Fantasy Islands, a complex of 100 islands. But even more striking is that, of the total available plots, 90 were sold on the first day and are now up for resale at exorbitant prices. To give you an idea, the ones that initially cost 15 thousand dollars are now selling for over 100 thousand.
The sale of real estate is very lucrative in the metaverse
Image: The Sandbox Everyone has their opinion about how safe it is to invest in a property in the metaverse, or how fair it is to pay for it. But beyond personal considerations, it is shocking how a trend can quickly become a million dollar business.
Time will tell if it only benefits some opportunists, or if those who are now betting on their own space in the virtual world strike at the right moment and acquire an asset that will continue to be valued over time, especially due to its scarcity.
If you're wondering how much a plot of land costs in the metaverse, the quick answer is: quite a bit of money. In The Sandbox, for example, a plot of 96 x 96 meters was sold in December for the ETH equivalent of 12,700 dollars. In Decentraland, meanwhile, the offer has been more limited in quantity and size, but with a higher price; there, a space of 16 x 16 meters was sold for almost 14,500 dollars in Ethereum.
In any case, we cannot say that these figures surprise us too much. We had already seen something similar in Spain with the case of Uttopion; there it is possible to buy your own piece of “land” for figures that vary between 2 thousand and 20 thousand euros, depending on the size.
Some time ago we told you that Tim Sweeney, the CEO of Epic Games, assured that the metaverse could be the engine of the world economy; He even predicted that it would be capable of generating “several billion dollars.” Clearly we are not yet close to that, but it is beginning to be evident that some sectors —such as the real estate market— have quickly found the most lucrative streak in life in virtuality.
