METAVERSE property sales will hit nearly $1billion this year analysts believe.
Real estate in the digital sphere has continued to surge in recent months, with sales in metaverse platforms the Sandbox, Decentraland, Cryptovoxels, and Somnium reaching $501million in 2021.
The market has got off to a flying start in 2022 as well, with January alone seeing $85million worth of completed property purchases.
Such is the rapid increase in prices, now analysts MetaMetric Solutions are tipping the sales to reach near the $1billion mark by the end of December.
Sales saw a huge uptick after Facebook announce in October last year that it was rebranding as Meta and was planning to launch its own metaverse.
It led to an increase interest in property – known as parcels – in already existing metaverse worlds.
Real estate sales on already established platforms in the month following Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement increased ninefold to $133million.
While sales growth has dropped off since then, last month’s total was still ten times more than the same period a year ago.
The rapid increase in prices has also led to some companies now offering mortgages for properties in virtual spaces.
Developer TerraZero recently gave a loan for a $45,000 parcel of ersatz land in an entertainment district of Decentraland.
Just like a mortgage for a physical property, the loan will only be provided after a credit check and a deposit.
But it’s not just individuals purchasing properties, with a number of big firms also buying up land.
Republic Realm, a leader in metaverse investment, paid a record $4.3million for land in the Sandbox in November last year.
It used the space to develop 100 island called Fantasy Islands, each with their own villas.
Republic Realm sold nine in ten of the islands sold at a value of $15,000 each.
Some are now already listed for re-sale at a value of more than $300,000.
Parcels can be purchased directly from metaverse platforms but are also available through a developer on the secondary market.
Properties are purchased via cryptocurrency and must therefore be completed with the use of an online wallet.
While there are a number of wallet platforms available, MetaMask and Binance Chain Wallet support a number of blockchains for purchases.
With interest in the virtual space continuing to grow, investors willing to fund the virtual space’s development, and high demand for digital commodities pushing prices up, Goldman Sachs says the metaverse is an $8trillion opportunity.
The bank said the digital economy today roughly makes up about 20 percent of the global economy.
It said the metaverse would hit the eye-watering figure assuming the virtual economy continues to grow at the same rate as the wider digital economy.
