Maybe you’re not interested in buying virtual real estate, but you’re probably curious about the concept of imaginary (not to say fake) real estate. It is freakish and strange, but a growing number of people purchase make-believe structures these days.
Even though these buildings don’t really exist and cannot be technically seen or touched — people are shelling out big bucks to get a piece of virtual properties.
Buyers are scrambling to purchase virtual metaverse land, and some are willing to splurge more than $10,000 to own some. If you’re thinking of buying a house or structure in the metaverse, keep reading to find out all the deets and whether or not it’s a good investment.
What Is Metaverse Virtual Real Estate?
Before moving further, you need to know what metaverse real estate is and how it works. It basically consists of parcels of land and a wide variety of buildings in virtual worlds. While these are just simple pixels, they aren’t only digital images.
Think of it as programmable spaces that allow folks to do various virtual activities on VR platforms. They can play different games, socialize, go shopping, attend concerts and meetings, etc. Virtual land is used for creating coordinates and maps for a unique experience.
Are there rules or laws for this simulated 3-D environment? Metaverse developers create the protocols and standardizations to fuse various maps and make this hybrid experience.
So yes, there are definitely guidelines that need to be followed and rules on how you can use your virtual property.
Why Do People Purchase Metaverse Land Properties?
Instead of buying a physical house, business, or piece of land in Sacramento, you would purchase digitized property from an online platform where you can enjoy playing games, trade NFTs, etc.
Once you buy a metaverse property, you will be able to do whatever you want on it, just as if you build a new website. You can develop or lease your virtual ‘land.’
However, most people buy these virtual properties to make a profit. They purchase metaverse real estate, wait for a rise in value, and simply flip it for profit. What’s more, advertisers can use the virtual properties for promoting services and new product launches.
How Do You Purchase Metaverse Virtual Land?
Buying metaverse real estate is very similar to purchasing an NFT. The buyer has a unique code on a blockchain, which serves as a property deed, and it is intended to certify the ownership, allowing the purchaser to have property rights in the piece of virtual land.
Individuals can purchase metaverse land like real-world assets and properties through property managers and brokers. However, metaverse property managers and brokers are not under any regulations, and they do not need licenses.
Because of the loose restrictions, it’s difficult for buyers to find trustworthy virtual investments. Since this is a relatively new concept, there will probably be more control over this in the future, and people will be able to invest without such concerns.
You must have a digital wallet to create your metaverse portfolio. Once you’ve linked your crypto wallet, you can buy virtual assets and land. Simply choose a piece of available land and buy it using crypto.
You’ll need to ensure your crypto wallet is fully funded to cover the investment before attempting to make a virtual purchase in the metaverse.
Bear in mind that some metaverse platforms use only specific cryptocurrencies for transactions. Before you create an account and sign up for a digital wallet, you should check out which cryptocurrencies are accepted.
There is a wide range of metaverse platforms to choose from. The hottest and the most popular platforms for buying digital properties are Decentraland and Sandbox. In fact, most of the metaverse properties are owned by the following four platforms:
- Sandbox
- Decentraland
- Cryptovoxels
- Somnium Space
These are known as the Big Four. With nearly 300,000 virtual parcels, these platforms play a significant role in the metaverse economy. By the way, these are also among the most expensive parcels on the metaverse real estate market.
How Much Is It Worth?
With the metaverse rise, the virtual real estate market started to expand and rise alike. It is quickly gaining in popularity, making the value of digital parcels grow rather rapidly.
When the first virtual LAND auction was held by Decentraland a few years ago, a parcel of digital land only cost 20 bucks, but the prices have continued to rise ever since then.
After four years, these parcels were sold for roughly $6,000 on average in 2021. Fast forward to today, and you’ll see prices well over $15,000.
Most virtual properties now sell from $10,000 to $80,000. An anonymous guy allegedly purchased a property for $450 in 2021, thereby becoming the Sandbox neighbor of Snoop Dogg. Yes, you can live virtually anywhere you want if the price is right!
Believe it or not, by 2028, the metaverse real estate is predicted to have a compound annual growth rate of over 31%. The incredible growth of metaverse has encouraged many companies to invest in virtual real estate.
To give you an idea of how popular this concept has become— Tokens.com, a big publicly-traded company, purchased 50 percent of the Metaverse Group company in 2021 for about $1.7 million.
Is It Worth Investing?
Many first-time buyers, particularly those who dream of making easy money fast, find it a very lucrative investment. However, not many people are aware of the challenges and risks they might face when entering this virtual world.
It’s relatively new, so it does entail significant risks when investing in metaverse real estate.
Is it worth the risks? Many people believe it is a high-return investment that will increase their wealth in the future. But, before taking risks like this, you should consider all the facts like you would for other business ventures.
The virtual real estate market is booming. People are keen to shell out thousands of dollars for virtual properties, hoping to capitalize on metaverse real estate by reaping big returns in the years to come. But is it for everyone? Only time will tell.
Conclusion
Buying metaverse virtual real estate may not be for everybody. But, if you have some extra cash laying around and want to be a part of the ‘futuristic’ way of living, go for it! However, before diving into this virtual world, you should research all the downsides and risks.
Keep in mind that these assets are very speculative because this virtual real estate market can easily crash or cease to exist at any moment. As a consequence, you may end up losing your investment.